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July 1967

Featuring 03113035

Century* Progress

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Qualify for a good paying secretarial
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and experienced staff assure you of
gaining the vital skills necessary for
career success.

LD" ALSO OFFERS YOU
THESE ADVANTAGES:

if The personal attention available
only at a small college

if Lowest tuition cost

if Advanced standing at BYU without
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■^r New luxurious girl's dormitory

if An LDS College ward on campus

if University scholarships for honor
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if Both a professional modeling and
personal development center for
men and women

if All three shorthand systems: Gregg,
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if A full scale computer for students
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if An active chapter of Lambda Delta
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if "LD's" placement office has over
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411 East South Temple • Salt Lake City, Utah 84111

Memo to our readers:

When it was determined that The Im-
provement Era would use a cover and
an article featuring Canada during that
great country's centennial year, we
turned to our art director, Ralph
Reynolds, for pictures, and to a new
staff member, William T. Sykes, for the
written word. The 11 beautiful color
photographs, which feature many parts
of Canada (including the Alberta Tem-
ple), were taken by Elder Reynolds on a
recent trip that took him from Quebec
to Cardston. Brother Sykes spent most
of his life in that country (see article and
biographical note, page 4) and writes
with all the love, warmth, and under-
standing of a proud Canadian citizen.

A report on a fascinating new dis-
covery by the Church Historian's Office
is reported in this issue by Era research
editor Albert L. Zobell, Jr., in the article
"Deseret Alphabet Manuscripts Found."
This is the first of a series of articles
on brief glimpses into our rich heritage
by Brother Zobell, which will run under
the general title "Lest We Forget."

Brother Zobell, who
holds B.S. and M.S. de-
grees in history and
political science from
the University of Utah,
has been a member of
the Era staff since
1940. This fall his 27th
book of inspirational thoughts will be
published. He is also author of Under
the Midnight Sun, a centennial history
of the Scandinavian missions, and
Sentinel in the East, a biography of
Thomas L. Kane. His contribution to

in general and The
in particular is im-
think you will like

Church literature
Improvement Era

measurable. We
his new series.

Managing Editor

Official organ of the Priesthood Quorums, Mutual Improvement Associations.
Home Teaching Committee, Music Committee, Church School System, and
other agencies of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The Improvement Era, 79 South State, Salt Lake City, Utah 84111

July 1967

The Voice of the Church

July 1967

Volume 70, Number 7

Special Features

2 Editor's Page: Men Who Hold the Priesthood, President David 0.
McKay

4 A Century of Progress in Canada, William T. Sykes

10 Lest We Forget: Deseret Alphabet Manuscript Found, Albert L.
Zobell, Jr.

12 The Era Asks About Nauvoo Restoration

20 Girls' Camping in the MIA, Eleanor Knowles

24 The "Mormon*' Missionary, John A. Widtsoe

49 A Song in the Night, Ruth C. Ikerman
54 A Forgotten Reformer, Derek Dixon

Regular Features

32 Best of Movies

50 Genealogy: Major Sources in the United States
58 LDS Scene

60 Teaching: Teaching Is a Touching Business (Part 1), Neil J. Flinders

62, 63, 64 The Spoken Word, Richard L Evans

66 Melchizedek Priesthood: The Eternal Family in the Church

68 Presiding Bishopric's Page: It's Right There in the Handbook

70 Today's Family: A Chicken in Every Pot, Florence B. Pinnock

74 The Church Moves On

76 Buffs and Rebuffs

78 These Times: The American Farmer, G. Homer Durham

80 End of an Era

Era of Youth

33-48 Marion D. Hanks and Elaine Cannon, Editors

Fiction, Poetry

26 Cousin Laurie, Patricia Middleton Faas
65, 80 Poetry

David 0. McKay and Richard L. Evans. Editors: Doyle L. Green. Managing Editor: Albert L Zobell. Jr.. Research Editor: Mabel Jones Gabbott. Jay M. Todd.
Eleanor Knowles. Editorial Associates: Florence B. Pinnock. Today's Family Editor: Marion D. Hanks, Era of Youth Editor; Elaine Cannon. Era of Youth
Associate Editor: Ralph Reynolds. Art Director: Norman F. Price. Staff Artist.

G. Homer Durham. Franklin S. Harris. Jr., Hugh Nibley, Sidney B. Sperry. Alma A. Gardiner, Contributing Editors.

G. Carlos Smith, Jr., General Manager: Florence S. Jacobsen, Associate General Manager: Verl F. Scott. Business Manager: A. Glen Snarr, Acting Business

Manager and Subscription Director: Thayer Evans, S. Glenn Smith. Advertising Representatives.

©General Superintendent. Young Men's Mutual Improvement Association of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1967. and published by the

multiple subscriptions, 2 years. $5.75: 3 years. $8.25: each succeeding year, 52.50 a year added to the three-year price; 35$ single copy, except for

special issues.

Entered at the Post Office. Salt Lake City. Utah, as second-class matter, Acceptance for mailing at special rate of postage provided for in section 1103.

act of October 1917. authorized July 2. 1918.

The Improvement Era is not responsible for unsolicited manuscripts but welcomes contributions. Manuscripts are paid for on acceptance and must be

accompanied by sufficient. postage for delivery and return.

Thirty days' notice iswequired for change of address. When ordering a change, please include address slip from a recent issue of the magazine. Address

changes cannot be made unless the old address as well as the new one is included.

The Editor's Page

By President David 0. McKay

• Peter the chief Apostle admonished the
members of the priesthood:

". . . I exhort, who am also an elder, and a
witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also
a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed:

"Feed the flock of God which is among you,
taking the oversight thereof, not by con-
straint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but
of a ready mind;

"Neither as being lords over God's heritage,
but being ensamples to the flock.

"And when the chief Shepherd shall appear,
ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth
not away.

"Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves
unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one
to another, and be clothed with humility: for
God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to
the humble.

"Humble yourselves therefore under the
mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in
due time:

"Casting all your care upon him; for he
careth for you.

"Be sober, be vigilant; because your adver-
sary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh

\
about, seeking whom he may devour:

"Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing
that the same afflictions are accomplished in
your brethren that are in the world."
(1 Pet. 5:1-9.)

These instructions are nineteen hundred
years old, yet new today, and just as appli-
cable now as then to the elders of this Church.
Peter said they should be "ensamples to the
flock." I should just like to ask if that example
starts at home. What better place to exer-
cise the lofty ideals of the priesthood?

The older I grow, the more grateful I am
for my parents, for what they did in that old
farm home. They lived the gospel. Father
used to preach it, particularly to visitors who
came, more than to us boys and girls; but both
Father and Mother lived the gospel. I realize
more than ever before that my testimony of
the reality of the existence of God dates back
to that home when I was a child. It was
through their teachings and their examples
that I received, even as a child, the absolute
knowledge that God is my Father, that I re-
ceived then the knowledge of the reality of
the spiritual world; and I testify to you that
that is a reality.

It is easy for me to accept as a divine truth
the fact that Christ preached to the spirits
in prison while his body lay in the tomb. It
is true. And it is just as easy for me to realize
that one may so live that he may receive im-
pressions and direct messages through the
Holy Ghost. The veil is thin between those
who hold the priesthood and those on the
other side of the veil.

That testimony began, was borne in that
home, because of the example of a man who
lived the priesthood and a wife who sustained
him and lived it in the home. I do not know
that Peter had that in mind, particularly,
when he mentioned "being ensamples to the
flock" (1 Pet. 5:3), but I do know that each
home is a part of that flock. The influence
you spread in your home will go throughout
the ward and the stake, and then will go
throughout the city, the state, the country,
and the world.

The most precious thing in the world is a

Improvement Era

testimony of the truth. Truth never grows
old, and the truth is that God is the source of
your priesthood and mine, that he lives, that
Jesus Christ stands at the head of this Church,
and that every man who holds the priesthood,
if he lives properly, soberly, industriously,
humbly, and prayerfully, is entitled to the
inspiration and guidance of the Holy Spirit. I
know that it is true!

God help us to defend the truth-better
than that, to live it, to exemplify it in our
homes. What we owe to our parents we
cannot express. Are you parents going to have
that same influence on your children? Never
set an improper example before them. You
are men of the priesthood, and you are
leaders. Never let them hear a cross word.
You should control yourself. He is a weak
man who flies into a passion, whether he is
working a machine, plowing, or writing, or
whatever he may be doing in the home.

A man who cannot control his temper is
not very likely to control his passions, and no
matter what his pretensions in religion, he
moves in daily life very close to the animal
plane. Religion is supposed to lift us on a
higher level. Religion appeals to the spirit in
man, your real person, and yet how often,
notwithstanding our possessing a testimony
of the truth, we yield to the carnal side of
our nature.

The man who quarrels in his home banishes
from his heart the spirit of religion. Any
quarreling in the home is antagonistic to the
spirituality that Christ would have us develop
within us, and it is in our daily lives that
these expressions have their effect.

Man is making great progress in science
and invention, greater perhaps than ever be-
fore, but he is not making comparable
progress in character and spirituality.

You men who hold the priesthood, a man
of the priesthood should not fly into a passion.
Learn to be dignified. To hold the priesthood
of God by divine authority is one of the
greatest gifts that can come to a man, and
worthiness is of first importance. The very
essence of priesthood is eternal. He is greatly
blessed who feels the responsibility of repre-

senting Deity. He should feel it to such an
extent that he would be conscious of his
actions and words under all conditions.

No man who holds the Holy Priesthood
should treat his wife disrespectfully. No man
who holds that priesthood should fail to ask
the blessings on his food or to kneel with his
wife and children and ask for God's guidance.
A home is transformed because a man holds
and honors the priesthood. We are not to use
it dictatorially, for the Lord has said that
"when we undertake to cover our sins, or to
gratify our pride, our vain ambition, or to
exercise control or dominion or compulsion
upon the souls of the children of men, in any
degree of unrighteousness, behold, the heavens
withdraw themselves; the Spirit of the Lord is
grieved; and when it is withdrawn, Amen to
the priesthood or the authority of that man."
(D&C 121:37.) That revelation given by the
Lord to the Prophet Joseph Smith is one of the
most beautiful lessons in pedagogy or psy-
chology and government ever given, and we
should read it over and over again in the 121st
Section of the Doctrine and Covenants.

Let us realize that we are members of the
greatest fraternity, the greatest brotherhood-
the brotherhood of Christ-in all the world,
and do our best each day, all day, to maintain
the standards of the priesthood.

Let us live honest, sincere lives. Let us
be honest with ourselves, honest with our
brethren, honest with our family, honest with
men with whom we deal, always honest, for
eyes are upon us, and the foundation of all
character rests upon the principles of honesty
and sincerity.

The great keynote to every man is: Do the
will of God. "If any man will do his will, he
shall know for himself." (See John 7:17.)
There is an opportunity every day of our lives
to do that will.

God is guiding this Church. Be true to it.
Be true to your families, loyal to them. Pro-
tect your children. Guide them, not arbi-
trarily, but through kind example, and so
contribute to the strength of the Church by
exercising your priesthood in your home and
in your lives. q

July 1967

A Century

of Progress

in Canada

MOL

By William T. Sykes

William T. Sykes, Canadian-born and educated at Stirling, Alberta, and the
University of Alberta, was active in newspaper work at Lethbridge and
Calgary and in administrative social work for the Alberta provincial govern-
ment. He is now an editorial associate of The Improvement Era.

^LThe Dominion of Canada, a sprawling geographical
giant bordering the United States on the north, is
observing its centennial this year. Boasting of— and
contending with— two official languages, its twenty
million inhabitants, through their politically elected
representatives, have issued open invitations to all the
people of the world.

Members of the Church who live in Canada are
taking part in the year-long celebration. Many of
them are descendants of those who pioneered southern
Alberta and trace their Canadian history back almost
to Canada's day of confederation. Eastern Canada
was a fruitful missionary field during the early history
of the Church. The Lord revealed to the Prophet
Joseph Smith that the land was a part of the choice
land of Zion, as described by ancient prophets, in the
center of which land should be the mountain of the
Lord.

To a world living in a space age, an age in which
vast sources of atomic power are being harnessed for
peacetime purposes, a reminder of a century of time
past may appear as an interruption in a hurried
schedule. The year 1867 was a far cry from man's
projected moon trips and the computerized industry

of today: a time before half of the world's existing na-
tions were formed; when the pound sterling ruled the
commerce of the seas; when the great industrial age
was beginning its march over the earth; when the
young American republic was healing its wounds after
the civil war between the north and the south. That
was the year when some Americans argued that the
United States had purchased a white elephant when
it paid two cents an acre for 360,000,000 acres of ice
and snow— Alaska. In that year, on the first day of
July, with comparatively few looking on, the Dominion
of Canada was quietly born.

Stretching nearly 5,000 miles from the Atlantic
Ocean to the Pacific Ocean, it is the world's second
largest country. It has the longest transcontinental
railroad and the longest TV network in the world. It
shares with the United States the longest undefended
border ( in 1966 there were 56 million crossings ) ; and
it has the largest inland port in the world, Montreal
Harbor.

Canada has been described as a huge structure
with only its lower floors partly occupied. Northern
Canada, with its long winters and enormous frozen
wasteland, has been uninviting to all but a compara-

Improvement Era

(D) President Heber J. Grant and party traveled by train to Cardston
for temple dedication, 1923. (E) Picturesque Anglican church is
situated in lovely forest setting near Mimetaki, Ontario. (F) Placid

tive few. Yet it contains rich mineral and forest
areas. Huge financial institutions have explored these
areas and have poured billions of dollars into their
development. The long arm of industry has reached
into the north and is tapping the enormous oil deposits
in Alberta's Athabasca tar sands. Canada's pulp paper
mills lead the world in the production of newsprint.
The country also leads in the production of nickel,
asbestos, uranium, and platinum. More than a billion
dollars have been invested in the mining and trans-
portation of iron ore from Labrador, where the largest
iron deposit in North America was discovered. A
highly industrialized society has developed and manu-
factures and sells more than $31,000,000,000 worth of
goods a year.

The image of Canada as a cold and dreary land has
remained in the minds of many people. Some may be
surprised to learn that the southern tip of the province
of Ontario is farther south than the California-Oregon
state line and that the temperature in Victoria, B.C.,
averages above 50 degrees Fahrenheit. From Windsor,
Ontario, a tourist may look north to the city of
Detroit.

It would be an error to assume that the history of

waters of Lake Louise in Alberta reflect snow-covered glacier in the
background. (G) Century-oid buildings of stone are typical sight in
city of Quebec on St. Lawrence River. (H) Ottawa office building.

this vast country is limited to a period of one hundred
years. Canada's native Indian inhabitants are rem-
nants of a much earlier civilization. Scattered and
fallen from a state of prosperity, enlightenment, and
power, they were, by the year 1497, incapable of
defending themselves against foreign powers. In that
year, only five years after Columbus discovered
America, John Cabot claimed the northern lands for
the English crown; and in 1534, Jacques Cartier
planted the French flag on Quebec's Gaspe peninsula.
Historians reveal that whereas Cortes led the Spaniards
in a bloody conquest of Mexico in 1519, the occupa-
tion of Canada and conquest of her native inhabitants
were comparatively peaceful. However, the conflict
between the English and French explorers and
merchants was not peaceful. The struggle for trade,
wealth, and power came to a head in 1759 when
General James Wolfe, who lost his life in the battle,
defeated the French General Montcalm on the Plains
of Abraham, Quebec. By the treaty of Paris, Canada
became British territory in 1763.

Conditions affecting the future of Britain's thirteen
colonies to the south were becoming more and more
unfavorable. Bitter resentment against her economic

July 1967

policy with her subjects across the Atlantic had
grown to such proportions that by 1775 the skirmishes
and local battles around Boston had spread until the
whole Atlantic seaboard was enveloped in the flame
of war. When, in 1783, the United States won her
independence, a large number of her citizens, still
loyal to the mother country, accepted an offer of free
lands in Canada. Since then they have been known
as the United Empire Loyalists, and more than forty
thousand of them migrated to Canada to assist in the
further development and colonization of the north.
The biggest single event of Canada's centennial
celebration is the international exhibition called
Expo 67, in Montreal from April 28 to October 27.
With the theme "Man and His World," the planners

(A) New as well
as old buildings
in downtown
Winnipeg, Manitoba

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(B) Paper mill at
Dryden, Ontario.

(D) Charles Ora Card
and Theodore Brandley,
early Mormon pioneers
in Canada.

(E) Alberta government
administration building at
Cardston.

(F) Typical farm
scene on prairies
of Saskatchewan.

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(G) Canadian houses
of Parliament
at Ottawa.

of this exhibit show man as creator, provider, ex-
plorer, and producer.

One of the highlights of Expo 67 will be the appear-
ance of the Salt Lake Tabernacle Choir at the
Maisonneuve Theatre August 22 and 23 at 8:15 p.m.
This will be the third appearance in Canada of this
world-famous group. The first two Canadian appear-
ances were at Toronto November 7, 1958, and at
Vancouver, B.C., August 14, 1962. The Montreal
appearance will be included in the choir's tour that
also includes Omaha, Nebraska, August 21; Attle-
boro, Massachusetts, August 24; Chautauqua, New
York, August 25; Saratoga Springs, New York, with the
Philadelphia Orchestra, August 26-27; Detroit, Michi-
gan, August 28; and Tulsa, Oklahoma, August 29.
"The Spoken Word" will be given by Elder Richard
L. Evans of the Council of the Twelve. Richard P.
Condie will conduct the choir, with Alexander
Schreiner as organist.

Members of the Church living in Canada stand
solidly on the foundation that they helped to build.
Numbering over 50,000, they have spread from a
small beginning and now may be found in large
or small numbers across the Dominion. Statistics
reveal that at the time of this writing there were nine
organized stakes and three missions serving the mem-
bers of the Church and carrying the message of the
gospel to many others. Membership has rapidly
increased, and members of the Church are continually
planning and building to meet the expanding growth.

From that membership have come many men and
women who have contributed much to the building
of the kingdom of God and the establishment of Zion.

Members of the Church
have played significant roles
in Canada's history.

Presidents Hugh B. Brown and N. Eldon Tanner of
the First Presidency were Canadians by adoption, and
Bishop Victor L. Brown of the Presiding Bishopric
was born in Alberta. And it was to eastern Canada
that some of the early missionaries were sent to search
out the honest in heart. Many were converted and
baptized— among them, four English people living in
Canada: John Taylor, later to become the third Presi-
dent of the Church, and Joseph Fielding and his two
sisters, Mary and Mercy Fielding. Mary Fielding
later married Patriarch Hyrum Smith and was the
mother of Joseph F. Smith, sixth President of the
Church.

As early as June 1832, Elders Joseph Young, Phineas
H. Young, Elial Strong, and Eleazer Miller established
the first branch of the Church in Canada at Ernes-
town, Ontario. In December 1832, Brigham Young
joined his brother Joseph and assisted in the organiza-
tion of another branch at West Loughboro, Ontario.
Elder Orson Pratt filled a mission there in 1833, and
in that same year the Prophet Joseph Smith and
Sidney Rigdon visited Canada and converted a num-
ber to the Church. In 1836 Parley P. Pratt, by special
appointment, commenced a successful mission in that
country. Other early missionaries were Orson Hyde,
Wilford Woodruff, Lyman E. Johnson, John E. Page,
and William E. M'Lellen.

After the Saints at Nauvoo migrated to the west
and established themselves in the valleys around the
Great Salt Lake, most of the Canadian Saints joined
the main body of the Church. It was not until 1889
that missionary work was continued in Canada under
the direction of elders laboring in the Northern States
Mission.

The establishment of the Church in western Canada
had its beginning similar to the colonization of the
territory of Utah. So much persecution had been
directed against the early members of the Church
that when the Congress of the United States
passed legislation that denied the Saints certain
religious freedoms, it was looked upon as renewed
persecution. As a result, scouting parties were sent
out to investigate the possibilities of settling in Canada
and in Mexico, and colonies were established in
both countries.

In 1886 Charles Ora Card, president of the Cache
Stake, was asked by President John Taylor to settle
in Canada and prepare the land for future migrations.
President Card left his home late in the summer of
1886 and started the long journey north, accompanied
by Bishop Isaac Zundel and Elder James W. Hen-
dricks. The party traveled through Oregon, Washing-
ton, and southeastern British Columbia, through some
of the most rugged parts of the Rocky Mountains, to
Calgary, Alberta, then south, finally camping at the
mouth of Lee's Creek October 24, 1886. Satisfied
that they had found the right place, they returned
to their home in Logan.

The following May, President Card, with two other
men, returned to arrange for the permanent posses-
sion of land on Lee's Creek, the present site of Card-
ston. A few days later he traveled south as far as
Helena, Montana, to greet the main company of those
coming to Canada, including his wife, Zina Young
Card, daughter of Brigham Young. On June 3 this com-
pany, numbering 41 Saints, arrived at Lee's Creek with
9 wagons, 23 horses, 40 head of cattle, and several
crates of chickens. The ten families, rain-soaked,

July 1967

Yukon

British Columbia

8.302

Manitoba

1,161

Alberta

25,443

Quebec

900

Saskatchewan

1,608

Ontario

10,966

weary, fearful, yet full of faith and determination,
pitched their tents and unloaded their possessions.
Eight inches of snow fell that first night.

A complete ward organization was set up October 7,
1888, under the direction of Elders Francis M. Lyman
and John W. Taylor of the Council of the Twelve.
New industries were established, including a coopera-
tive community store in 1888, a cheese factory in
1890, and a saw and shingle mill and a French-Burr
gristmill in 1891.

Alberta now began to be looked upon as a country
of many opportunities for new settlers. In 1891,
President Card and Elder John W. Taylor arranged
to rent 500,000 acres of land for a period of four
years and at the end of that time to purchase it for
one dollar an acre. When the Church entered into an
agreement with the Alberta Irrigation Company to
construct a canal from the St. Mary River eastward
to bring water to new settlements, many Saints ac-
cepted the call to assist in its construction. A number
of farm villages and towns sprang up almost over-
night, as new immigrants arrived from the south.

Among the first were the village of Stirling, settled
in May 1899, and the town of Magrath, settled that
April. Raymond was settled in August 1901, and rrtany
new settlers came in when construction of a beet
sugar factory commenced in 1902.

From these main centers the Latter-day Saint popu-
lation spread in all directions. It is said that civic
officials of the city of Lethbridge, before the turn of
the century, insisted on certain stipulations in agree-
ments with the Mormons under which the new settlers
were not to come within a 20-mile radius of the city.
This claim is substantiated by the fact that with Leth-
bridge as center and 20 miles as a radius on the map,

the point of the compass passes over the settlements
of Magrath, Raymond, and Stirling. However, in
later years these agreements were apparently forgotten
and the Latter-day Saints extended their possessions
into Lethbridge itself, with a member of the Church
eventually becoming its mayor.

An example of some of the hardships experienced
by these early pioneers concerns an incident in the
lives of the settlers at Stirling, as related by Andrew
Jenson, one-time assistant Church historian. He
records:

". . . On May 4, 1899, Elder Theodore Brandley and
29 companions stepped off the narrow gauge railroad
at the Great Falls and Canadian Railway station, then
the only building in sight on the prairie. . . . The little
band of saints, filled with courage and hope, pitched
their tents on the plains of Alberta with one aim in life:
to do the will of their Heavenly Father. On Saturday,
June 17, 1899, it began to rain. The men had all
gone out to work on the canal, leaving Elder Brandley
to care for the women and children who remained in
town. Steadily the downpour continued, and, accord-
ing to the government rain gauge, six inches of rain
fell in the space of 14 hours. For two weeks this
storm raged without ceasing. Tents would no longer
give shelter from the rain and the people had to hold
umbrellas over their heads while they ate their scanty
meals, prepared under these circumstances. They
were also compelled to sleep in wet bedding, and, as a
last resource, cover their beds with dish pans to catch
the water as it poured through the sodden canvas.
But these sturdy settlers . . . stuck to their task and the
outcome is a beautiful . . . town on the prairie. . . ."
( Andrew Jenson, Encyclopedic History of The Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, p. 837. )

Improvement Era

Dedication of the Alberta

Temple in 1923 brought

even greater blessings

to the Saints in Canada.

Map at far left shows provinces
of Canada, with Church

membership indicated for each.

Elder David 0. McKay of
the Council of the Twelve (in dark coat
at right in photo) laid the
cornerstone of Alberta
Temple in August 1915.

Many of these early pioneers suffered much in
attempting to establish an economy in the face of
some of the most severe winter conditions. On those
broad, open prairies, high winds would often cause
blinding blizzards, sweeping over low hills and filling
gullies with drifts up to twenty feet deep. With the
thermometer hovering around forty below zero, one
early pioneer desperately searched for his cattle as
they drifted with the wind, blindly seeking shelter.
The cattle found shelter beneath a high bank along
a dry creek bed. Hunched together for protection
from the storm, they remained lost to view. Weeks
later they were found, half buried in snow and frozen
upright in a standing position— all that remained of
the farmer's hoped-for yearly gain.

But this was not the complete story. Spring and
summer brought hope and new vision. Time to plant
and time to reap. Time to overcome losses and time
to profit by experiences. And always an impelling
faith in God with a determination to assist in building
his kingdom upon the earth.

Missionary work continues to be the main cause
of the growth of the Church in Canada. In 1919 the
Canadian Mission in eastern Canada was organized,
with Elder Nephi Jensen as president. The Western
Canadian Mission was organized in 1941, with Elder
Walter Miller as president. The Alaskan-Canadian
Mission was organized in 1960, with Elder Milton L.
Weilenmann as president.

When the Saints settled in western Canada, they
hoped a temple would be built in that land, that they
might receive the greater blessings of the gospel. They
were encouraged in this hope by promises made soon
after the town of Cardston was settled. It was on
Monday morning, October 8, 1888, that Elders Francis

M. Lyman and John W. Taylor of the Council of the
Twelve, accompanied by President Card and four
others, rode to the top of a hill to the west of the
town. The four men and three women formed a
circle, and during the prayer that was offered, Elder
Taylor prophesied that a temple would be erected
on that spot.

Twenty-five years later, on July 27, 1913, President
Joseph F. Smith dedicated the temple site, and on
November 9, 1913, Elder Daniel Kent Greene of
Glendwoodville, Alberta, turned the first sod. Elder
David O. McKay, then a member of the Council
of the Twelve, laid the cornerstone on September 19,
1915. Under the direction of President Edward J.
Wood of the Alberta Stake, President Heber S. Allen
of the Taylor Stake laid the capstone September 23,
1917. On August 26, 1923, President Heber J. Grant
dedicated the Alberta Temple, the first temple outside
of the United States and, for many years, the only
temple in the British Empire.

Thus do great things come from humble beginnings,
and that which at first might seem beyond the abili-
ties of a few humble people opens to greater things
when acted upon with faith in God and a desire to
build his kingdom on the earth. And how beautiful
upon the hills and the open prairies is the memory of
those who came because God directed them and
blessed their efforts for good.

Canadians are proud of their heritage and wish the
world to know of the choice land they occupy, with
its riches and vast, untapped opportunities. From
east, west, north, and south comes the message that
Canada has come of age, is celebrating the event, and
is asking the world to join with it in this centennial
celebration. O

July 1967

Lest We Forget

Deseret Alphabet

oie -j set ;

1+0 'i

S 0-ftSt

Manuscript
Found

By Albert L. Zobell, Jr.

Research Editor

Y
Je si

jr..

Improvement Era

• From a storage area of the Church Historian's
Office in May 1967, a package of papers was un-
wrapped and found to be manuscript copies in the
Deseret Alphabet of the Bible, the Doctrine and
Covenants, Deseret Phonetic Speller, and the Cate-
chism by John Jaques. The papers, ready for the
printer, had lain undisturbed for so long that their
very existence had been forgotten.

The phonetic Deseret Alphabet was but one of
several pioneer experiments that endeavored to make
life easier and better on the frontier.

"The Board of Regents [of the University of
Deseret], in company with the Governor and heads
of departments have adopted a new alphabet, con-
sisting of 38 characters . . . with the sanguine hope
of simplifying the [written] English language."

This announcement in the Deseret News of January
19, 1854, went on to say:

"In the new alphabet every letter has a fixed and
unalterable sound and every word is spelled with refer-
ence to given sounds."

The alphabet, formed by a committee of educators
and churchmen, is believed to have been largely the
work of George D. Watts, whose shorthand ability en-
abled him to record many of the sermons delivered
in pioneer Utah. Of the 38 characters from the old
alphabet, only the letters C, D, L, O, P, S, and W were
retained, each to be assigned new sounds.

Years advanced, and the people moved temporarily
south with the approach of Johnston's Army. After
their return, Wilford Woodruff discussed the matter
with President Brigham Young on November 20, 1858,
and determined that the material previously compiled
was lost. The President advised that Brother Wood-
ruff contact Brother Watt and start again. That
November 27 some printing in the Deseret Alphabet
was done, using type ordered from St. Louis.

The superiority of the alphabet was agreed upon in
a meeting on January 23, 1859, but it was also stated

that supplying books in the alphabet to the schools of
the Territory would cost a million dollars. The deci-
sion was made to continue using books written in
conventional English for a while.

The first part of the Sermon on the Mount in the
Deseret Alphabet appeared in the Deseret News of
February 16, 1859. Articles in that medium were
printed in the paper almost every week until May
1860. Dissatisfaction with the type and contents of
proposed schoolbooks slowed down the project. Some
Church records during the 1859-69 decade were in-
scribed in the Deseret Alphabet. The schoolbook
Deseret First Book was printed by the Deseret News
in 1868, followed by Deseret Second Book. The Book
of Mormon from First Nephi through the Words of
Mormon and later the complete Book of Mormon
were printed by Russell Brothers of New York in 1868
for the Church.

The wonderful dream of easier written communica-
tion, by pen and by print, did not materialize in
practice. Some have jested that a page of the printed
Deseret Alphabet could be mistaken for a Turkish tax
list. Others have erroneously charged that its purpose
was to send secret instructions. With the completion
of the transcontinental railroad in 1869, reading and
writing materials, as well as everything else, became
more readily available to Utah, ending her isolation.

Children who first learned their letters in the
Deseret Alphabet, and who were later required to
learn them anew in English after the plan was dropped,
reaped a lifetime of difficulty in remembering that
many words require the addition of silent letters as
the words are spelled out.

The Deseret Alphabet was a phonetic attempt to
simplify the writing of the English language. It was
not a spoken tongue. Its purpose was to aid the Utah
schoolchild, as well as his foreign-born neighbor, in
acquiring proficiency in reading and writing the lan-
guage of the land. O

Albert L. Zobell, Jr., left,
Earl E. Olson, assistant Church
historian, compare manuscript
in Deseret Alphabet with
printed page.

July 1967

":■:■■, :■;

The Era Asks

Sketch of Nauvoo by John Schroeder found on an 1859 map of Hancock County. At that
time Nauvoo was occupied by many French Icarians, German-Swiss settlers.

Nauvoo Restoration

Dr. J. LeRoy
Kimball

Q — Briefly, what is Nauvoo resto-
ration all about?

A — Nauvoo Restoration, Incorp-
orated, is a non-profit corporation
sponsored by the Church for the
acquisition, preservation, and resto-
ration of part of the old city of
Nauvoo, Illinois, where the Saints
lived before the westward migra-
tion. We hope to provide an
authentic physical environment for
renewed public interest in Nauvoo.
Plans also call for the development
of landmarks and other features of
historic interest along the Mormon
trail and other sites of Church his-
torical interest.

The members of the board of
trustees are Harold P. Fabian, A.
Hamer Reiser, President Thorpe B.

Ever since his undergraduate years as a medical student in Chicago,
from where he often journeyed to Nauvoo, Dr. J. LeRoy Kimball has
nurtured hopes of restoring the once beautiful Nauvoo as a monument
to the Prophet Joseph Smith and the Church. In 1954 he acquired the
house of Heber C. Kimball, his great-grandfather, and his personal
project soon became of Church-wide interest. Under assignment from
the First Presidency, Brother Kimball is now president and chairman
of the board of Nauvoo Restoration, Incorporated.

Isaacson, and I, all of Salt Lake
City; David M. Kennedy of Chi-
cago, Illinois; J. Willard Marriott
of Washington, D.C.; and A. Edwin
Kendrew of Colonial Williamsburg,
Virginia.

Q — How much of the old Nauvoo
have you been able to acquire?
A — Presently we have about 90
percent of the property that the
First Presidency determined was of
paramount historical importance.
Q — Are there many structures re-
maining today that were built by
Latter-day Saints?
A — This is one of the remarkable
features of Nauvoo— it is truly a
great historical city. There are
about 40 original homes of the
Saints; some are not in perfect con-

dition, and some have only the
original foundations. The homes of
Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball,
Wilford Woodruff, Winslow Farr,
Orson Hyde, James Ivins-Elias
Smith, Erastus Snow, Nathaniel
Ashby, Jonathan Browning, Joseph
B. Noble, David Yearsley, Joseph
W. Coolidge, and the Times and
Seasons building are all in good
condition.

Q — What kind of work do you en-
gage in after acquisition of prop-
erty?

A — Much of our work at present is
in the historical and archaeo-
logical areas. The historical re-
search is headed by Dr. T. Edgar
Lyon, one of the Church's promi-
nent historians.

Improvement Era

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July Era '67

Before we engage in any restora-
tion of property, we need to know
who lived there, when and for how
long, and the original style, mate-
rial, and structure of the building.
We need to know the kinds of
utensils, tools, furniture, and cloth-
ing that were used in the home.
This kind of information entails
painstaking research into old
diaries, books, notes, microfilms,
letters, pictures, and drawings from
all possible sources.

Dr. Lyon is constantly engaged
in uncovering new information per-
taining to Nauvoo. Assisting us is
Rowena Miller, who has made a
study of property ownership at
Nauvoo and has been able to place
the dates and sites of occupancy of
about 9,000 of the 12,000 people
who lived there.

Q — How is information such as
this obtained?

A — Through detailed work in dia-
ries, county tax records, and the
like. For example, several years ago
we contacted officials of the Han-
cock County courthouse, hoping to
find old records. We were informed
that shortly after World War I they
had burned all records before 1850,
but the Nauvoo attorney, Preston
W. Kimball, came to us with tax
records for 1840, 1842, and 1850,
which he had saved from destruc-
tion. Also, the custodian of the
courthouse and Dr. Lyon, on a
search for additional records, went
into the attic, and between some
ceiling joists were found the tax col-
lector's reports from 1846 to 1849.
This has helped greatly.
Q — How do you go about furnish-
ing a restored house?
A — We first do extensive research
to learn what was in the house.
Then we contact descendants— or
hope they contact us— and, if pos-
sible, gather from them original
household materials. If we are
unable to find the actual furnish-
ings, we acquire authentic items of
the period.

Q — Will you rebuild houses that
are now nothing more than founda-
tions?

A — Yes. One role of our architect
is to recreate these houses as they
once were. We have many pic-
tures and drawings of houses,
shops, and other buildings of
Nauvoo.

It is not contemplated that all
of the houses still standing be
restored as museums or exhibition
houses, but they are to be restored
at least as to the exterior to form
the background of a section of the
city that will be representative of
the City of Nauvoo as a whole.

We plan to rebuild the Seventies
Hall and shops of tanners, black-
smiths, wheelwrights, wagon mak-
ers, bakers, apothecary, general
stores, and some of the more inter-
esting and important of the trades
that were in Nauvoo in the
Prophet's time. We know the
actual location of most of the
shops and have photographs of
some. We have a committee o\
experts and authorities whose role
is to see that everything is done
accurately.

Q — Part of Nauvoo, including sev-
eral homes, is owned by the
Reorganized Church, those mem-
bers who decided to break away
from Brigham Young and the
westward movement and remain in
the Midwest. How does this affect
your work?

A — The Reorganized Church owns
about 40 acres on which are some
historic buildings— the Mansion
House, the Homestead, the founda-
tion of the Joseph Smith Store, and
a remnant of the Nauvoo House.
Actually, the Nauvoo House, in-
tended to be a large hotel, was
never finished, because of the
martyrdom.

Q — What are the plans for the
Nauvoo Temple block?
A — This has not been decided yet.
One suggestion is to partially re-
store it, perhaps rebuilding only a

corner of the building to the tower
base. This will allow people to get
an idea of the temple's grandeur,
and permit them to climb to the top
and see the beautiful view of the
Missisippi River and the country-
side about which so many visitors
as well as the Saints wrote. The
temple story is part of our historic
presentation.

Q — In the days of the Saints,
Mississippi River traffic played an
important part. Do you have any
plans concerning the river?
A — The river provides some won-
derful possibilities. Only a short
time ago the governor of Illinois
led a flotilla down the river, point-
ing up the tourist potential for the

Master bedroom of Kimball home. Most
furnishings are antique.

Heber C. Kimball home before restoration
and refurnishing were begun.

Kimball home as it now stands, restored
and open to visitors.

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many people who own boats. In
the days of Nauvoo, the Saints
owned and used several paddle
steamers and "horse boats." The
river steamers were the Maid of
Iowa and the steamboat Nauvoo.
We hope to duplicate these boats
and provide short river trips for
those wishing enjoyable recreation
and a flavor of the past.

The Saints also had a ferry,
which we plan to reestablish. At
the present time the ferry nearest
Nauvoo is about 100 miles away,
and it is surprising the number of
tourists who want the unique thrill
of being ferried across the river. In
terms of potential use, our shore-
line property extends three miles
and has endless possibilities.

Q — Will the city be alive with the
flavor of the past, or will it be a
silent city, more like a museum?

A — The great potential of Nauvoo
lies in giving life to the city. Those
restored houses not used as
museums or exhibition houses will
be occupied as residences. We also
want to fill the shops with artisans
who would work at the various
trades performed over a century
ago. Some of the shops would be
self-supporting and help maintain
the cost of the restoration project.
We envision not only recreating
part of the town as it once was, but
also supplying guides to show tour-
ists through the homes and tell
the story of the Mormons who
lived there and their way of life.

Q — Would you provide entertain-
ment also?

A — There are many possibilities
here, ranging from parading a Nau-
voo Legion to a dramatic produc-
tion telling the story of Nauvoo.
There is a natural amphitheater
down by the river, one that could
easily seat thousands of people.
We hope to have a dramatic-
musical production written that
will appeal to tourists and portray
the dramatic story of the rise and
fall of Nauvoo.

Q — To what extent will Nauvoo be
a missionary tool in terms of what
is done at Temple Square or what
was done at the New York World's
Fair?

A — The role of the Church in re-
storing Nauvoo envisions a differ-
ent approach to missionary work.
Our guide service is one that tourists
will find informative, educational,
and inspiring, but also one that
those who do not desire a prose-
lyting approach will find accept-
able. Nauvoo will be a historical
place where people will first look
and then possibly listen to the gos-
pel message.

The Church will have a center
located in the city where visitors
will be able to talk to missionaries,
discuss doctrinal questions, and
receive other information. The
guides in Nauvoo are fine, educated
college students, most of whom
have had missionary experience.
They tell the historical story of
Nauvoo— of the people who lived
there, their beliefs, and what they
did— in a fashion that is attractive
to tourists.

We have a referral service for
those who wish to learn more about
the Church. We know from past
experience that a good percentage
of tourists want to learn more, and
many have been converted. Nu-
merous visitors have come back
again and again.

Q — What is the tourist potential of
Nauvoo?

A — Last year more than 97,000
people registered at our informa-
tion center and exhibition houses,
and we expect about 120,000 regis-
trations this year. By 1974 our
estimates show that a minimum of
400,000 people per year will visit
us. The potential is remarkable.
You see, within half a day's drive
from Nauvoo live 17 million people.
Within 500 miles there are 50 mil-
lion people.

Another fact pertaining to our
tourist potential is our strategic
location in a section already having

Improvement Era

great historic attraction. Ninety-
eight miles to the southeast is New
Salem, home of Abraham Lincoln.
The State of Illinois has rebuilt it,
and it is most interesting to com-
pare New Salem's dusty streets and
log cabins with Nauvoo's well-
planned community and gracious
homes. Seventy-five miles down the
river is Hannibal, Missouri, home
of Mark Twain. Thus, within a
day's drive are areas pertaining to
Abraham Lincoln, Mark Twain,
and the Mormons. What an attrac-
tive area for tourists!

Q — What will visitors to Nauvoo
see this year?

A — They will view Nauvoo in its
beautiful setting and visit the
Heber C. Kimball and Ivins-Smith
houses, the Times and Seasons
building, and, we hope, the Wilford
Woodruff and Brigham Young
houses. Our guides, numbering
about 30, will take visitors on tours
of the city. A film on Nauvoo is
shown at the Nauvoo Restoration
Information Center, and there is
an interesting exhibit of artifacts at
the center. Even now it is a most
worthwhile experience and one that
is gaining increasing recognition in
the Midwest.

Q — Are sleeping accommodations
nearby?

A — Although Nauvoo has very lim-
ited tourist accommodations, visi-
tors find that within 25 miles there
are many first-class tourist accom-
modations. If any wish to write to
us at Nauvoo Restoration, Nauvoo,
Illinois, we will be happy to help
arrange accommodations. In the
near future we hope to establish
our own motel-hotel accommoda-
tions. There is also a state park in
Nauvoo, and for a small fee one
may camp overnight.

Q — How do you personally feel
about the project?

A — I have two thoughts I wish to
share. First, I want all Latter-dav
Saints to know that the Church

July 1967

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I State Zip.....

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An artist's retouched work of a
daguerreotype of Nauvoo Temple.

Aerial view shows old streets of Nauvoo,
present buildings, and community's three-
sided border by Mississippi River.

Home of Wilford Woodruff, fourth Church
President, is being restored and refurnished.

is not committing itself to some-
thing that is going to involve a
fantastic outlay of money. This
complete restoration project is
such that we could stop at any
particular phase of our ten-phase
developmental program and not be
the loser. Each phase can stand
on its own and to some degree
satisfy visitors.

Second, I really get enthusiastic
about the potential of Nauvoo— and
the amazing thing is, so do all of
the experts who learn of our
project or from whom we've asked
help. You see, the great story of
Nauvoo has never really been told,
not even by Latter-day Saints. The
Mormon migration is the only
migration in which an entire com-
munity moved itself and its indus-
tries, institutions, religion, schools,
and political and cultural concepts
to the Far West. It is the onlv
American migration that is a two-
way road; that is, we repeatedly
sent missionaries back across the
plains to get our people. While
everyone else headed west basically

"The Homestead" was Nauvoo home of
Prophet Joseph Smith from 1839 to August
1843.

for reasons of financial speculation,
the Mormons took their faith, their
families, their poor, and their sick
and established a community that
is entirely self-supporting.

For many years Utah served as
the mid-American supply point for
those going on to Oregon and Cali-
fornia. The story has been told from
the point of view of the Church,
but its place in American history
and its great contribution to the
settlement of western United States
has never been told adequately.
This is one reason so many non-
Mormons are enthusiastic about it.

Nauvoo is a great center from
which to tell many stories: the
Mormon Nauvoo story, the migra-
tion story of all peoples who headed
westward, the Mississippi River
traffic and merchandising story,
and the always enjoyable experi-
ence of seeing how people of
another time lived. In years to
come I sincerely believe Nauvoo
will be one of the great historical
attractions in America and a monu-
ment to the Prophet Joseph Smith.

Improvement Era

KSL NEWS I N VIET NAM

In-depth coverage of KSL news extended to Viet Nam as KSL,
home of radio brought you a new insight into world affairs
through the eyes of young men serving there. Daily interviews
with men from mountain America were made in villages, hospital
zones, aircraft carriers, anywhere those young men serve. Reports

were rushed to Broadcast House daily to give you the most com-
plete and total local coverage ever heard on the Viet Nam story.
Covering these history-shaping events for KSL were top newsmen
Dick Nourse and Larry Finnegan. No wonder KSL, home of radio
is mountain America's "number one" news station!

FAR LEFT AND ABOVE: Scenes
typical of Viet Nam and the
action reported by KSL news-
men, Larry Finnegan and Dick
Nourse, pictured on left as they
leave for Far East.

BELOW: Able and efficient
KSL news director, Ted Cap-
ener and the news room —
nerve center for all KSL news.

Mountain America turns to KSL news for the facts!

DIAL 1160

And why not, KSL supplies more people with more facts faster
than any other news source. With 17 "professional" newsmen,
8 fully equipped radio mobile units and an airplane ready for
instant use, with helicopter service when needed — KSL has to
be your "number one" news source.

No matter what the story, when or where it happens, you hear Broadcast House

about it first on KSL, home of news.

50,000 watt CBS clear channel
for Western America

Salt Lake City, Utah 84111

home of radio

• From Santiago, Chile, to Anchor-
age, Alaska; Inverclyde, Scotland,
to Concord, California; Melbourne,
Australia, to Washington, D.C.—
thousands of girls of MIA age are
going to camp this summer. About
40,000 are expected to participate
in the YWMIA girls' camp program,
sleeping out in tents and sleeping

bags, under the stars and under
shelters, at Church-owned camps
and at forest service camps.

Wherever you find young Latter-
day Saint girls, you'll find them
joining together in this great pro-
gram of sisterhood and fellowship.

Camping for girls has been part
of the YWMIA program for more

Girls and leaders from Salt Lake area hike
along rocky mountain trail.

than half a century, since the Lib-
erty Stake of Salt Lake City held
the first such encampment in the
summer of 1912.

The site of that first camp was
on the banks of Big Cottonwood
stream, on a farm in Murray, some
ten miles south of Salt Lake City.
To get to the camp, the girls rode
the streetcar to Murray, where they
were met by a hayrack that carried
bedding and bags to the camp site
a mile away, while the girls and
their leaders followed on foot. The
camp had a large sleeping room,
boarded halfway to the roof and
screened with wire netting the
other halfway, with cots and mat-
tresses for twelve. Supplies were
kept in large boxes, and all food
was cooked in the open, over a
campfire. Activities at this first
camp included wading and swim-
ming in the stream, nature walks
and nature study, and campfire
programs. During the summer of
1912, 82 girls and 15 leaders en-
joyed the camp.

As the success of Liberty Glen
became known, the general board
began encouraging other stakes to
develop an adequate summer pro-
gram "to give added protection to
young people from evil tendencies
incident to war conditions," and
thus the summer camp program
was begun. Among the pioneer
camps were those established at
Brighton, near Salt Lake City;
Logan Canyon, Provo Canyon,
Bear Lake, Pocatello, Ogden, and
other areas along the Wasatch
Mountain front in Utah and Idaho.
By 1925 more than 3,000 girls were
attending the camps, a number that
increased to more than 17,000 in
1954. Today, more than twice as
many girls are now enjoying the
camping experience, with 38,432
attending in 1966, including 873
nonmembers.

Improvement Era

For many stakes and missions,
today's camp facilities are a far
cry from the simple, rustic Liberty
Glen camp. Thirty camps are now
owned by stakes or through joint
stake effort. In other areas, estab-
lished camp facilities owned by
such groups as the Girl Scouts,
YWCA, Jewish youth organiza-
tions, and other civic groups are
rented. Many stakes enjoy primi-
tive camping in national forests or
by permission on private property.

In Australia the girls camp in
tents on farm and ranch land owned
by members of the Church. In
England, a beautiful lodge set on
40 acres of green fields and playing
grounds provides the setting for
leadership weeks for the girls. In
Santiago, Chile, the camp site is
along a river running through a
farm located near groves of
eucalyptus trees. Girls from Rex-
burg, Idaho, camp at the Rock
Creek LDS Girls Camp adjacent
to Yellowstone National Park, while
those from the San Fernando Val-
ley of California go to primitive
areas of the High Sierra mountains.

One aspect of girls' camping in
the Church today that has per-
haps given greater impetus and
meaning to the program is the
Campcrafter Certification program,
begun in 1963. This program pro-
vides four levels of achievement,
with recognition for each level. A
girl who has n astered all four
levels of achievement should be
prepared to take care ox herself and
others in life out of doors as well
as experiencing an increase in her
own leadership ability and prepar-
ing her for future roles as a home-
maker and a mother.

Under the certification program
( which in England and Australia is
called a "qualification" program,
since in those countries to be
"certified" means being committed

Cookout over an open fire attracts girls at
lake shore camp in Australia.

to a mental institution!), first-year
campers may become "Yearlings"
when they have mastered fourteen
requirements. These include help-
ing to plan a hike and a cookout,
knowing how to dress for a hike
and the rules for hiking, building a
fire, sharpening a knife, tying knots,
cooking out of doors, developing a
nature craft, and learning basic
first-aid techniques.

The second year a girl may work
toward the "Mountaineer" level by
learning such things as fire safety
and conservation regulations, going
on an all- day hike, preparing meals
by using various outdoor cooking
methods, lashing, sharpening and
using an ax, building four types of
fires, demonstrating knowledge of
more advanced first-aid skills, and
leading the group in special assign-
ments.

To become an "Inspirator" at the-
end of her third year, she con-
tinues to study conservation, learns
new cooking techniques and how
to use a compass and map and
trail markings, demonstrates a
working knowledge of first aid by
teaching it to younger girls, assists
as a junior counselor, and helps
teach camp skills to others.

The fourth level is "Adventurer,"
for which girls help plan and go on
a pack-in trip for two or three days,
take a five-mile cross-country hike,
pitch a tent, plan and cook outdoor
meals, make lashed camp items,
participate in campfire programs,
and perform other leadership roles.

Only those campers who have
themselves been certified through
special workshops or actual camp-
ing experience may certify other
campers. Since the program was
introduced, devoted and deter-
mined leaders fi >n throughout the
Church have sacrificed to get the
proper certification so they could
take the program to their girls.

Campers at San Fernando, California,
(above) weigh in with sleeping bags and
camp gear. Flagstaff (Arizona) Stake camp-
ers (below) pitch tents in the forest.

Sister Alvie M. Pemberton of
Victoria, Australia, a mission
YWMIA supervisor, saved for ten
years in order to be able to travel
to Utah for June Conference. The
general board camp committee
heard she was coming and urged
her to study beforehand so she

July 1967

Campfire area (above; at Camp Liahona, Concord, California, is set in beautiful forest.
Campers from Anchorage, Alaska, travel by train (below, left), then hike in to Camp
La Da Sa, where hearty meals prepared in the open (right) await them.

could become certified at a post-
conference clinic.

"Being a grandmother of two,
and feeling my age," she said, "I
did not really believe I could do it.
However, with some personal ef-
fort, plus a lot of prodding and
pushing from the camp committee,

I did succeed in becoming certi-
fied for the entire four years. Upon
my return to Australia, I was full
of enthusiasm and could not get
the program going soon enough."
Sister Pemberton set up clinics
in the stakes and missions of Aus-
tralia, and now there are more than

Girls' camping is a popular MIA activity

world — in England,

Weber (Ogden, Utah) Stake girls gather around campfire
for traditional Indian ceremony.

50 leaders who have at least one
level of certification, and half a
dozen who have completed the
entire four-year program.

The success of the Campcrafter
Certification program is attested to
by leaders throughout the world,
whose reports include these state-
ments: "The program has provided
the direction for camp program-
ming." "We have never made the
program mandatory, but we have
made it so appealing that we have
never had one girl refuse to par-
ticipate." "It has reactivated former
inactive girls, brought nonmembers
into closer contact with the Church
program, and provided leaders with
opportunities to get closer to their
girls than is possible at any other
time." "The outstanding success of
the program in our region is that it
is producing outstanding leaders."

To prepare their counselors for
teaching the skills in the Camp-
crafter program, camp directors
often hold special workshops and
outings prior to the camp season.
In the Central States Mission, a
certification campout for district
executives and sports-camp direc-
tors was held in the summer of 1966
in the wooded area adjoining the
mission home at Independence,
Missouri. This site is part of the
area that has been dedicated for the
building of the temple in Zion,
Jackson County, Missouri.

Priesthood guidance has been a
big factor in the success of girls
camping in the Church. The gen-
eral board recommends that at
least one member of the priesthood
go to camp with each group. This
person is available to assist with
long hikes, building and repairing
camp equipment, protection, and
giving fatherly advice.

The Concord (California) Stake
reports outstanding priesthood sup-
port: "We have a minimum of five

Improvement Era

all over the

Australia, the United States, Chile — wherever the Church is found.

members of the priesthood with
us for the full seven days, and we
have a virtual waiting list of men
who would like to go. When the
Adventurers go out for three days,
two priesthood members go with
them; another goes with the In-
spirators on their overnight hike;
and two are left in camp at all
times. These men form their own
unit and not only provide the heavy
labor for camp but also participate
in our campfire programs, Sunday
services, and testimony meetings.
We can also testify that through
the power of the priesthood many
girls and leaders have been healed."

While the Campcrafter Certifica-
tion program provides direction for
much of the camping activity, other
activities are also provided, includ-
ing softball, volleyball, hiking,
archery, swimming, boating, and
other outdoor sports. In England
and Australia, heavy emphasis is
given to the sports program, par-
ticularly track and field events.

Girls who are interested in arts
and crafts are taught how to make
beautiful and useful articles from
flowers, leaves, nuts, wood, and
other natural materials found in the
camp area. Girls at the Flagstaff
( Arizona ) Stake camp make leather
purses to wear on their belts when
they hike to carry first-aid equip-
ment, knife, compass, and matches.
New Jersey Stake girls enjoy mak-
ing curler bags and tile mosaics.

The length of stay for girls who
attend MIA camps ranges from one
day to a full week. Those who stay
the full week plan for special Sun-
day activities in keeping with the
Sabbath, usually beginning with
Sunday School or a testimony meet-
ing, then discussion groups and
nature study in the afternoon, sac-
rament meeting in the early
evening, followed by a fireside
program. One stake reports that

on Saturday evening the entire
stake presidency and bishoprics, as
well as high councilors and other
priesthood leaders, arrive to stay
overnight and direct the Sunday
services. "The girls are really im-
pressed when the sacrament is ad-
ministered and passed by their
bishops," their camp director
reports.

During the week the girls may
participate in MIA programs, gos-
pel discussions, and testimony
meetings. A testimony meeting the
last morning of camp is traditional
in many areas, with the girls aris-
ing early to go to an outdoor area
for sunrise services. There they
can express their feelings in settings
that are often reminiscent of the
Sacred Grove where the young
Joseph Smith also sought the Lord.
For many girls, this is the first
opportunity they have taken to
bear their testimony.

"Testimony meeting in the primi-
tive camps is wholesome, with the
girls showing a real appreciation
for their Heavenly Father," said
one high councilor from the San
Fernando (California) region.

"The most faith-promoting event
we have is our fast and testimony
meeting. We have had our non-
members also bear their testimonies
and become active in the Church
through the camp program," ac-
cording to the Flagstaff Stake camp
director.

"One of our most successful
events is our early morning testi-
mony meeting," said the Mt. Nebo
(Payson, Utah) Stake director.
"The setting of our camp in a
meadow, completely surrounded
by mountains, is just beautiful. It
seems that early in the morning, out
of doors, the atmosphere is excep-
tionally quiet and serene. With
the sun just coming up over the
mountains and everything so beau-

tiful, no one can doubt the
existence of a Father in heaven."

Conversions of nonmember girls
who have become fellowshipped
through the YWMIA girls' camp
program are often reported. Con-
cord (California) Stake reports at
least two baptisms each year as a
result of the camping program. In
the Alaska Stake, where the girls
travel 70 miles from Anchorage to
a beautiful campsite, two young
girls were converted to the Church
through camping last year, and
their parents were also recently
baptized.

A young girl in Mt. Nebo Stake
completed the camping program
and was baptized a few months
later. Her father, a nonmember,
praised the certification program
as one of the truly worthwhile pro-
grams of the Church. This stake
also encourages mothers to go to
camp with their daughters and
serve as counselors. On one three-
day pack-in trip were two mother
and daughter teams who "set an
example of love that can exist and
become stronger through this in-
spiring association in the out of
doors."

Many faith-promoting stories are
told in each stake and mission each
year as a result of the camp pro-
gram. Illustrative of this is the
experience reported by the Sydney
(Australia) Stake last year. The
girls had planned a special fireside
but were advised to cancel it be-
cause of a violent storm approach-
ing. The camp director, Sister
Bronwen Jones, knowing how im-
portant the program was to the
girls, knelt in prayer with her
mother (who was a counselor) to
ask her Heavenly Father's help.

Their prayer was answered. The
program was presented in dry
weather to the 64 girls in the camp
as well as 50 visitors who were

July 1967

camping in the vicinity. Sister
Jones said later, "Can you imagine
the thrill it was to be able to make
known our principles and standards
to these very interested visitors? I
don't believe I have ever felt so
lifted up by the Spirit as when our
girls sang praises to their Heavenly
Father, bore testimony to the truth-
fulness of the gospel, and stated

their willingness to conform to the
standards of the Church. Imme-
diately after the closing prayer, the
rain began to pour down, and the
storm broke. During that long
night of patrolling for the safety
and comfort of the girls, we were
warmed by the quiet knowledge
that we had asked in faith and
our prayer had been answered."

Yes, the YWMIA girls camp
program is one of great spirituality
and growth for thousands of Latter-
day Saint girls. Through it they
learn to work together, to play
together, to live together. Through
it a great reservoir of leadership
strength is developed, strength
that will benefit the Church in
coming years. Through it great

An Era reprint on the spirit of being a missionary —

The "Mormon" missionary is unique among those who go out to
battle for a cause. He is untrained, according to man-made standards,
for the work he is to do. He comes out from his daily labors on the farm,
in the shop, in the university, from any and every honorable pursuit,
learned and unlearned, wealthy and poor, to teach in the mission field
that which he believes to be true, in the language and with the means
that God has given him. His weapon and defense is truth, humbly used,
and truth is always invincible.

It is even more remarkable in these days that the missionary labors
without material reward. He receives no remuneration for his service,
and while in the mission field, he must provide at his own expense for
his support. When his missionary labors are over he returns to his daily
tasks, his honest toil, to earn his living as before, poorer perhaps in
this world's goods, but with the inivard satisfaction that comes to him
who renders obedience to the Lord. He was divinely called into the
mission field; he will be divinely rewarded! He knows that giving is the
way to receiving. The missionary trusts the Lord. That gives him more
than mortal power.

The "Mormon" missionary believes sincerely, indeed, he knows, that
his message is the priceless gift of undoubted truth, God made and
revealed, which has the power, if used, to enrich mankind beyond measure
in daily happiness on earth and in the- life hereafter. Such certain knowl-
edge gives him courage and makes his labors joyful. He meets the issues
of the day with a song in his heart.

Moreover, he understands that the gospel message is for all the
children of men, not for a favored few; and he knows that, according
to the eternal order, those who have must give, that truth must be shared
else it dies, that out of unselfish service comes unbounded joy. So he
rejoices to have the privilege of helping his fellowmen find and tread
the path to daily happiness. Such spiritual forces impel and uphold
the missionary.

There is no parallel in the whole history of mankind to this missionary
system. Untrained men have often spoken for righteousness ; others have
sacrificed for their convictions ; but there is no record of a whole people

Improvement Era

spirituality, humility, and love for
the Lord are developed and
fostered.

The feelings of many thousands
of devoted MIA camp directors and
counselors is beautifully summed
up by Sister Effie Davenport of
North Rexburg ( Idaho ) Stake, who
writes : "When I look back at some
of the resistance from our leaders

and girls when we began our pro-
gram, and how we kept our goals
in sight, knowing that they would
come around— and now see the
zest, love, and growth of all of us,
I know it's been worthwhile! Many
times I have prayed to my Father
in heaven for guidance about
problems confronting us. I know
that he has helped us!" •

as timely today as it was 31 years ago.

who for more than a century, with-
out diminution of zeal, as a body and
continuously, have given such service
under every sun, who have kept be-
fore the eyes of men the eternal fire
of truth upon the altar of sacrifice.
The cost in time and money has been
tremendously great. The sacrifices
of fathers, mothers, wives, brothers,
and sisters, to make the mission of a
loved one possible, form a noble and
beautifully tender chapter in the
history of mankind.

Out of the sacrifices made by the
Latter-day Saints to spread the per-
fect doctrine of truth among mankind
have come great blessings. Hundreds
of thousands of honest seekers after
truth have entered the Church of
Christ, into a happier way of life.
Every family which has sent a mem-
ber into the mission field has been
spiritually enriched thereby. Every
missionary has profited personally by
the experience. Young men and
women sent into the field to battle
for the cause of the Lord have come
back as men and women ready to cope
with the day's problems. . . . Whoever
serves the Lord prospers. It should
be the ambition of the youth of Zion
to share in the profitable enterprise
known as a mission. — John A. Widt-
soe, October 1936 Improvement Era.

July 1967

"Where the World
Registers"

Your next trip to Denver — the
climate capital of America —
will be most memorable when
you stay at the Brown Palace.

• 600 air conditioned rooms

• suites and executive rooms

• five famous restaurants

• complete convention
accommodations

To expedite your reply, write Dept. IE

KARL W. MEHLMANN, General Manager
Represented by:

ROBERT F. WARNER
New York City
GLENN W. FAWCETT
Los Angeles

MEMBER

<^<^<^<^<^?^<4^U!?~><<&><47*<^&^&^&><<0^

Science without religion

is lame,
religion without science

is blind.

Albert Einstein

DESERET

I MORTU,

&1Y

THOUGHT FOR THE MONTH
CUT OUT & ADD TO YOUR COLLECTION

• I noticed the anxiousness in
Mother's voice as she called us in
from the yard. When the five of us
had reached the back steps she
scolded us for playing in the mud
around the pump. The door that
separated the kitchen from the
house was barred, and we sensed
what was coming. Billy and Quin-
tus were sent to draw water, and I
began to undress the two little
ones, Noannie and Ophie. Mother
was hastily spreading rugs on the
floor to catch the spatters, when
Ophie started to whine. Whisps of
stray hair curled on Mother's face,
damp with perspiration. She an-
swered him impatiently.

"Your Uncle Phillip and his new
bride are here a day early, and are
sittin' in the parlor. And you, young
man, are simply caked with mud!
Your Aunt Minah has never met
you children, and I want you to
look your best. Her girl's as old
as you, Carrie," she said to me,
her good humor returning. I felt
a catch of excitement. For weeks I
had tried to imagine what the new
cousin would be like. Would she
be pretty? Would her hair be as
long and brown as mine? And how
would a city girl from way up
north, coming to a little cotton
town in Georgia, take to her
"country" cousins?

"Mama, what's she like?" I asked.
"Are Laurie and Aunt Minah Mor-
mons too?"

"I told you, hon', I don't know.
Uncle Phil didn't say. But after
we've all gotten acquainted, we'll
see." She began to pin up my pig-
tails, lowering her voice to me.
"You know what a good Saint his
first wife was, God rest the dear
old soul. But I don't want you

children asking too many questions,
you hear?"

The big tub by the stove was
filled, and each of us had a quick
bath, without a change of water,
and we wriggled into our starched
clothing. Then five heads of hair
were brushed and combed. With
faces shining, and bodies slightly
stiff, we marched into the parlor.
Our mother followed, straightening
her dress and patting her braids
in place.

Aunt Minah's small form sat
rigidly in Mother's rocking chair,
opposite my father's relaxed bulk.
Beside her chair stood a lovely
young girl, slightly taller than I.
Her long, golden braids hung to
her waist and were tied with color-
ful ribbons. She was as fair as I
was tanned.

Uncle Phil sat in a straight-back
chair, his hat on his knee, nervously
tapping his foot. As he watched
our little procession he gave us a
wide grin, and we ran to hug him.
Uncle Phil had not changed very

much. His chin overlapped his
collar, which appeared to be
choking him, and his auburn mus-
tache curled on his cheeks like the
horns on Papa's prize bull. Mother
introduced us to Aunt Minah and
Laurie in order of age, starting with
me: "Carrie Lee, John Quintus,
William Thomas, Noannie Ann, and
Theopholis." Aunt Minah's gaze
lingered on Ophie. His eyes were
round and bright, and his dark
curls had been brushed until they
shined. He timidly tucked his head
against Mother's skirt, and the
woman regarded the rest of us
coolly. She gestured with a slim
hand.

"This is my child," she said,
"your Cousin Laurie." The girl
smiled nervously.

"Here, child, sit down," Mother
coaxed, and set a leather footstool
in front of her. After a moment's
uncertainty Laurie straddled the
stool, resting her elbows on her
knees.

Papa and Uncle Phil had pulled

In our starched clothing,

with hair brushed and

faces shining, we marched into

the parlor.

Improvement Era

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their chairs up closer to the hearth,
laughing and talking noisily to each
other. The womenfolk had to
speak louder to understand each
other, and I strained an ear to hear
both conversations. Aunt Minah
opened a lace bag and took out her
crochet needles and ball of thread.
Mother watched admiringly as
Aunt Minah's dainty, manicured
hands waved the needles back and
forth. I glanced over at Mother's

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hands, hid in the folds of her skirt.

"Do you enjoy needle work?"
Aunt Minah finally asked.

"No, ma'm . . . that is, I'd love
to crochet if I had more time. It's
just that I don't sew for enjoyment
much now, these children keep me
so busy!" she said, laughing. "And
we get behind in our farm work.
But I do manage to make a dress
or shirt for them now and then."

"Ma made the dress I'm wearin'
now!" Noannie said proudly, hold-
ing out the skirt by its corners while
Aunt Minah looked at it. Uncle
Phil's voice invaded their conversa-
tion: "How did the crops survive
that rainy spell?"

"How long have you lived
here in MacDonough?" Aunt Minah
inquired. After Papa had fin-
ished a siege of loud coughing,

We took her on a guided tour.
She saw a "real, live milk cow."

Mother answered the question:

"My parents settled here in '68,
and they helped to build this town.
Why, it wasn't much more'n a pig
trail when they came," she said,
beaming.

"Not much more'n that today!"
the other woman said under her
breath.

Cousin Laurie seemed to be en-
thralled with Uncle Phil's and
Papa's talk of cattle. As she lis-
tened her eyes grew round with
interest.

"Mother, I've never seen a cow
that gives milk," she said quietly.
My mouth dropped open, and
Mother smiled at her warmly.
Ophie thrust his chin in Laurie's
face.

"You mean you've never seen a
milk cow?" He gazed at Laurie
in amazement. This provided an
opening for me: "Laurie*," I im-
plored, "wouldn't you like to see
our cow? Her name's Lady."
Ophie sucked in his breath with
excitement.

"Lady's gonna have a li'l calf
'fore long, and Pa says I can name
it!"

"What are you going to name
your calf?" Laurie asked. Ophie
studied for a moment, for he had
not really decided on a name yet.
Then his eyes widened as he an-
nounced the new name: "Laurie!"
He gave a satisfied grin.

Noannie giggled aloud, and I
tried to stifle my giggles with my
hand. Ophie, proud of his results,
joined in with his own explosions.
Mother shook her head at us, but
there was a twinkle in her eves.
Aunt Minah looked annoyed, but I
didn't care. I wanted to laugh and
never stop, for the more I saw of
Aunt Minah's pinched little face
and the quick movements of her
pale little hands, the more I found
it impossible to suppress the laugh-
ter that seemed to boil up inside
me. Papa turned and glared at us.

We grew quiet again; and

Improvement Era

Mother, sensing our discomfort,
suggested that we invite Laurie to
our room while she visited with
Aunt Minah. We were happy to
oblige— to get out of those scratchy
clothes and tight-feeling shoes.

I loaned Laurie an outfit of
mine to change into and hung her
dress with its countless rows of
ruffles and dainty lace bodice care-
fully on a hanger. Then all of us
took off our shoes and stockings,
and our toes were free again.

As we were showing our cousin
a few of our belongings, I opened
the drawer to our night table, and
she saw my Book of Mormon.
When she asked about it, I ex-
plained that this book was like the
Bible. I let her see the signature
of our Church President, who had
autographed my book the year he
tourejl our mission. It was my most
treasured possession, and I related
how Joseph Smith came to be a
Prophet of God like the prophets
in the days of old. Then I returned
the book to the drawer.

Out in the yard, Laurie walked
up and down the cool ground, gaz-
ing often at her feet as though she
seldom saw them. The six of us
sat in a circle and asked questions.
We quizzed Laurie about her home
and life in the big city. She usually
went to the theater with her par-
ents, and she went to a "private"
school attended only by girls.
Laurie appeared to have a fascinat-
ing life filled with catered affairs
and colorful friends, and piano and
dancing lessons. We pressed her
for more, but she changed the sub-
ject by asking to see the farm ani-
mals. We took her on a guided
tour of our small farm. She saw a
"real, live milk cow," and Lady
donated a dipperful of milk, warm
and fresh.

We showed Laurie the old sow
and her young pigs, and she tried
to imitate their squeals. Next came
the rabbit cage, where she gently
fondled the rabbits, stroking their

soft, pink ears. She teased the kit-
tens our old mother cat had left
in the corn bin, and fed nuts to
our tame squirrel Oscar, who soon
made friends with Laurie.

Billy and Quintus invited her to
go to the woodshed to see the king
snake they had captured. When
she saw Quintus wrap the friendly
snake around his arm and stroke its
head, she screamed and even cried
a little.

The last stop was the chicken
yard, where all the hens rushed to
the fence, expecting a handout.
Laurie poked her finger through
the wire and a chicken pecked it.
Billy brought a pan of corn and let
her feed the chickens. She laughed
with delight and stood at the edge
of the chicken yard, calling sweetly,
as she threw them fistfuls of corn.

"I know where there are some
nice juicy grapes," Quintus told
her, and we remembered the grape-
vines. "Over the fence and just
down that hill," he said, pointing to
the farthest gate. Laurie shaded
her eyes.

"We have to crawl through a
'bobwire' fence," warned Ophie,
"and Billy found a rattler there last
year!" Laurie's expression changed.

"Hush, Ophie!" Quintus scolded.
"You know it was already dead
when he found it!" While Quintus
was busy trying to reassure Laurie
that snakes were afraid of people,
we started to move toward the
gate.

"We'll race to the grapevines, and
the first one that steps in somethin'
is a tongue-tied-billy goat!" Noan-
nie yelled, the words trailing after
her. The rest of us were in squeal-
ing pursuit through the chicken
yard. Laurie hung back, stepping
with caution. I waited for her
when I reached the end of the yard,
and held the wire apart while she
crawled through.

The grapes hung full and ripe
above our heads, and we climbed
the vines and picked all we could

eat, and filled our pockets full. We
ate as we walked, and stopped to
swing on the oak vines that hung
low to the ground. We stopped to
rest on the bank of the creek and
told ghost stories, occasionally
glancing warily over our shoulders.
When the sun began to go down we
decided to head for home to feed
the pigs and gather the eggs before
supper. Laurie had asked to help
with the egg gathering, and Quintus
and Billy obligingly put them in
her skirt as she held tightly to the
corners.

As we reached the back yard we
smelled biscuits baking and chicken
frying. We were very tired and
content to sit quietly around the
supper table while our parents
chatted happily with our guests.
Aunt Minah was seated beside
Laurie. After the food had been
blessed she sniffed at Laurie in-
quiringly. "Laurie," she said softly,
"go look on the bottoms of your
feet. I think you've stepped in
something."

Aunt Minah seemed to have mel-
lowed a little, and during the meal
she ate four buttered biscuits. She
was smiling now, and even had a
second helping of blackberry cob-
bler. Afterwards, she politely
offered to help with the dishes,
which Mother, of course, refused;
but Aunt Minah insisted on helping
to clear the table. (My mother's
cooking certainly did wonders for
people! )

Before retiring that evening, my
father asked our guests to kneel
with us in prayer. Papa asked
Uncle Phil to lead. It must have
been a momentous occasion for
Uncle Phil, for more than likely it
was the first time he had knelt to
pray with his new wife and daugh-
ter. His voice was filled with
emotion. In the evenings that
followed, after prayers, Laurie and
I would take the Book of Mormon
from the drawer in my night table,
and I would tell her stories from

July 1967

My book had come home
and with it a priceless gift

from Cousin Laurie.

Illustrated by
Jerry Thompson

it. Laurie and her family remained
with us a week, and by that time
I was beginning to think that my
Aunt Minah was not a bad sort.
It simply took awhile to get to
know some grownups.

The time came to tell our cousin
and her parents good-bye. That
morning after breakfast we chil-
dren appeared to be listless, as we
sat around looking at each other.
After several moments Ophie stood
in front of Laurie.

"Here's my jar of lightnin' bugs
you can have," he said, thrusting a
small jar into her hands. There
were holes punched in the lid. "Set
'em in your room at night and
they'll blink their lanterns."

Noannie rushed out of the house,
banging the door behind her,
and returned shortly, breathlessly
clutching a bouquet of crab apple

blossoms. "Here's something I
picked for you. Wear 'em in your
hair, if you like." Laurie buried her
nose in the clusters of pink buds.

Billy offered her three of his
shiniest marbles, and Quintus
fished in his pockets until he found
his slingshot and some whittled
wood. Both were added to Laurie's
keepsakes.

I took Laurie by the hand and
led her into our room. On the
table by the bed I arranged all
the treasures I owned, my best
pencil drawing mounted on card-
board, the little blue windmill my
father had given me, a lock of my
baby hair, the tiny cup and saucer
from my first set of dishes, the
little glass slipper I had won at the
fair, and my grandmother's pin-
cushion doll.

"Laurie," I said; trying to con-

trol my excitement, "you can choose
your gift from anything on this
table. Which one would you like?"
I waited for her to pick her prize
for a long, breathless moment. She
examined each article closely, hesi-
tating at each one. Then she
reached for the knob on the table
drawer and opened it slowly. I
gave a little gasp. "My Book of
Mormon?"

"Oh, not to keep," she assured
me. "May I just borrow it for
awhile? I promise to take good
care of it."

"Well ... in that case," I said,
concealing my disappointment.
"Go ahead and take it. After all
it is part of the table!" We both
laughed, though I seriously doubted

I would ever see the book again.

« # #

During the years between our

Improvement Era

occasional summer visits I waited
patiently to find her letters in our
mailbox. Many nights I burned
the lantern late, pouring all my
hopes and dreams into my letters
to Laurie, and she shared hers
with me. She had welded a great
deal of influence on her mother,
and Aunt Minah followed Laurie
in baptism.

The days and years passed
swiftly through our letters, and it
was Laurie's wedding day. She was
marrying a fine, young man in the
temple. I was there with my own
husband to witness their marriage.
Laurie was a picture of happiness
as she hugged me tightly.

"Carrie, I hope you'll forgive me
for not returning your book. I've
been so busy I forgot to bring it.
But I'll get it to you some day, I
promise."

"Oh, forget it! I really haven't
needed it!"

Laurie's husband took her to live
on a farm in Iowa. As I fondly
recalled how she had made pets of
all our farm animals, I decided this
must be where she belonged.
Laurie bore him seven handsome
children— six stalwart sons and one
lovely daughter. Shortly after the
birth of her youngest, her husband
was killed in a tractor accident.
She interrupted her grief long
enough to say good-bye to her old-
est son as he left for a mission.

In the years that followed, his
younger brothers and sister fol-
lowed in his footsteps, each sup-
ported by their hard-working
mother and the children who re-
mained on the farm. Laurie saw
three of her children married, and
held her first grandchild in her
arms. Then she joined her husband
in the spirit world.

Sometime after the funeral,
Laurie's daughter called to see me.
She embraced me warmly and
placed a package in my hand. The
box was tied with ribbon.

"Carrie, Mother insisted that you
have this." Laurie had given me
little gifts through the years, but
what would my thoughtful friend
give to me now— this last token of
love? I waited until I was alone
in my room to unwrap it.

The book was badly worn, al-
most backless. A few of the pages
were torn. I turned it over in my
hand, and with my finger I traced
the faded signature on the flyleaf.
I began to explore its pages, their
margins filled with notations. For
a long time I gazed at it until my
vision blurred, and it seemed to
melt in my hand. Seven faithful
missionaries had preached to
hundreds of souls from the book,
resulting in the conversion of count-
less numbers— missionaries who
shared a gospel of love: their own
dear mother's teachings. A price-
less gift indeed, from my cousin
Laurie. O

WHEN YOU'RE
IN HAWAII,
ENJOY
ALL THE
FUN AND
EXCITEMENT
OF THE

khhc

Unforgettable villages of Tahiti, Fiji, Sa-
moa, Tonga, Old Hawaii and Maori New
Zealand, open daily except Sundays from
10 a.m. Authentic 2-hour Polynesian mu-
sical pageant evenings. $7.90 includes
admission, show and buffet dinner. See
your travel agent or write:

July 1967

blynesian

Cultural Renter

Hawaii

An educational and cultural activity of

The Church of Jesus Christ of

Latter-day Saints

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Best of Movies

By Howard Pearson

• For the second month, we are re-
viewing as a family movie a picture
with an educational theme. Last
month, it was Up the Down Stair-
case, the story of a young woman
schoolteacher among underprivi-

leged high school students in an
American school.

This month, we would like to
review To Sir, With Love, which
deals with a teacher of under-
privileged students in London. In
this case, the teacher is Sidney
Poitier, who won an Oscar for his
acting in Lilies of the Field. He
well could be nominated again for his
sensitive role in To Sir, With Love.

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The story is predictable enough,
but it is played with such loving
attention to the message that it is
lifted out of routine into a minor
classic. The things the teacher
does are simple enough, but how
he does them strikes at the heart.
Throughout the film, the message
is one of human dignity. The
teacher makes his students, some of
them real toughs, respect each
other in the way they speak and
act.

One tense scene comes when a
bully in the class challenges the
teacher to a boxing match. Having
been a boxer, the teacher does not
want to have a fight, but when he
is forced to, he gains the respect
of the class by whipping the bully.

Other new releases this summer
are Brighty of the Grand Canyon,
story of an elderly prospector who
adopts a wild little burro that
roams the rocky trails of the Grand
Canyon; Africa— Texas Style, an
Ivan Tors production telling how
American cowboys take part in an
experiment to save wild beasts of
Africa and at the same time aid the
economy of the continent; Reluctant
Astronaut, which stars that funny
Don Knotts; El Dorado, a western
with John Wayne; A Man for All
Seasons, selected as best picture of
the year by the movie industry;
The Bible; and Follow Me, Boys,
which is still in general release.

In addition, there are some re-
issues that should appeal to fam-
ily groups. Walt Disney Studio is
releasing again two of its funniest
pictures— The Shaggy Dog and The
Absent-Minded Professor, both of
which star Fred MacMurray. The
same studio will also reissue this
summer the charming and lovely
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,
which should find appeal for ma-
ture moviegoers as well as for
children. O

Motion pictures reviewed on this page are
neither approved nor recommended by the
Church or the Era. They are, however, in
the judgment of the reviewer, among the
least obiectionable of the current films.

Improvement Era

:annon. Associate Editor • J'

"They were honored in their generation!

THIS IS THE TRIBUTE we annually pay to the winners of The Improve-
ment Era youth writing contest. This year's winners are unusually tal-
ented. They will long be remembered by the judges and staff and MIA
executives. Everyone is remembered by someone for something. To be re-
membered for achievement, for excellence, for wholehearted effort toward '
a goal is a dream few realize, but it is one these top award winners have
already attained.

A successful person doesn't just happen. The possibilities for success
are innately with us, but what we do with what we have is the margin of
difference. And a winning entry isn't just a product of luck. It is the
result of an honest creative effort, of doing something commendable with
God-given gifts, of carefully adhering to contest rules.

Entries flooded our office bearing postmarks from the world over.

Leonie Robyn Wood

from Warriewood,

Australia, now in final

year at Narabeen

Girls' High School.

Louise Terry Lindorf

from Whittier,

California, honor

student at University of

California at Irvine, now

preparing to leave for

mission in Eastern Canada.

Bonnie Muirbrook

from Ogden, Utah,
recent graduate of

Weber High School

where she maintained a

3.8 grade average.

Dennis Marden Clark

from Provo, Utah,

currently serving in the

Texas Mission.

BR1GHAM YOUNG UNIVERSITY

Full Scholarship

"Not a Whisper"

LEONIE ROBYN WOOD
Warriewood, N.S.W., Australia

"Time of the Great War"

LOUISE T. LINDORF
Whittier, California

Part Scholarship
"Family Girl"

BONNIE MUIRBROOK
Ogden, Utah

"The Day Star Arise"

DENNIS CLARK
Provo, Utah

"Another Day"

GERTRUDE M. RICHARDSON
Ipswich, Suffolk, England

"That Old Poet"

DENNIS DRAKE

Rancho Cordova, California

"Blinded"

SUZANNE EYESTONE
Ogden, Utah

"A Story About Kindness"

ELDER LEE MOE
CHRISTENSEN
Australian Mission
(home: Spanish Fork, Utah)

RICKS COLLEGE
Full Scholarship

"Bargains and Birthrights"

VERLYNNE INSLEY
Rexburg, Idaho

Part Scholarships
"The Discovery"

KATHRYN L. NEWMAN
Burley, Idaho

"A Father's Prayer"

LOIS M. HALL
North Ogden, Utah

"All Is Calm"

GREG GROVE

Long Beach, California

"First Prize, Afloat!"

LINDA COLEBY

Lowestoft, Suffolk, England

CHURCH COLLEGE OF
HAWAII

"The Lonely Hill"

SHIRLEYANN GUNNING
Honolulu, Hawaii

"Portia!"

GEORGE E. WATT
Athelstone, South Australia

"Your Calling"

VERNETTA MALOLO
Apia, Western Samoa

"Space and the Probable Future"

ORLANDINA M. BONA VITA
Stepney, South Australia

"The Eternal Lament"

DAVID R. STURT

Gilles Plains, South Australia

CASH PRIZES ($50.00)

"Marie"

LINDA BUHLER

Salt Lake City, Utah

Improvement Era

5, and were the glory of the times."

Ecclesiasticus
44:7.

There was evidence of much fine adult leadership and encouragement
when many youth writers from the same wards and branches entered the
contest. There were some who submitted more than twenty-five poems
under different pen names. There were some who penned poems on "di-
version day" in the mission field. There were some whose entries were
submitted secretly by a proud parent.

The subject matter was varied and often exciting. So much of the
heart and soul of this generation was revealed. The quality of writing was
so high that judges were hard pressed to make final decisions. Shake-
speare said, "The harder match'd, the greater victory."

We congratulate the winners and encourage all entrants to keep
writing, keep contributing, keep sending the Era of Youth your efforts.

The Editors

Verlynne Insley

from Rexburg, Idaho,

now attending Ricks

College majoring

in journalism.

Kathryn L. Newman

top graduate

of Burley High

in Idaho.

Lois Marie Hall

from Ogden, Utah,

has been attending

Weber State College

for the past two years.

Shirleyann Gunning

Convert to the Church

from Great Britain; has

been living for past

several years

in Hawaii.

"Misused"

LINDA BUHLER
Salt Lake City, Utah

"Capturing Gid"

RENE ELLSWORTH
Mesa, Arizona

"Two Graveyards"

WILLIAM PACE
Safford, Arizona

"Magnum Opus"

DON W. JENKINS
Heber City, Utah

"Satisfaction"

DENNIS R. SHORT
Zurich, Switzerland

"The Light of the Soul"

JENNIFER GOBLE
Salt Lake City, Utah

"Attractions"

ANDREW GIBBONS
Phoenix, Arizona

"Growing Up"

SUSAN ARRINGTON
Twin Falls, Idaho

"Youth"

EILEEN PERRY
Jacksonville, Florida

"Of Fields Unplowed"

JOHN H. RICHARDS
Eastern States Mission
(home : Salt Lake City, Utah)

THREE-YEAR ERA SUBSCRIPTIONS

"Gold Chairs and Hanging Lamps"

ELAINE PETERSON
Salt Lake City, Utah

"Amy"

MARGARET MUGLESTON
Salt Lake City, Utah

"The Tragedy of Death"

LARRY E. JONES
Downey, Idaho

"Old Henry's Christmas"

GLENIS CLARK
Gisborne, New Zealand

"The Tides"
CHRISTINE BUSH
St. John, Utah

"Isaiah"

LINDA PETERSON
Fullerton, California

"A Prayer"

DOYLE PATRICK BUCHANAN
Vista, California

"A Finger"

KATHLEEN CARTER
Portland, Oregon

"Listen to Your Heart"

KAREN KIMBERLY KING
La Crescenta, California

"The Converting Canine"

JAMIE E. ENGLAND
Seattle, Washington

"In My Father's House"

MELINDA NIELSON
Van Nuys, California

"The Big Change"

ELIZABETH LENDALL
Ogden, Utah

July 1967

'■:.:.

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•"

TIME OF THE

TOP AWARD

By Louise T. Lindorf

a,:-; ,

". . .IHERE IS NO CHRIST!" the prisoner cried
out. He was taken aside to await further
indoctrination.

From the shadows one of the prisoner's friends
watched, tears rolling down his face. His throat
ached, but he silenced the sobs he could feel
rising. Not a sound would they hear. He could
not let them capture him. He had to get away —
fast. Still he lingered on, waiting to see the fate
of his other friend, the next prisoner brought
forth.

Voices hushed. Only crickets disturbed the
stillness of the cold night air. Then the leader
asked the second prisoner to state his feelings.

After a pause, he answered, "Your system is
totally corrupt. I will not be a part of it. Nor
will I deny Christ. God lives !"

"Kill him! Kill him!" they screamed.

The prisoner's friend turned his face. He knew
what came next and didn't want to see it. But
he couldn't keep the anguished scream from his
ears. Over and over it echoed through his soul
as he stole away in the safety of the night.

Both friends were dead now, each in his own
way — although he had done all he could to save
them. "Save them for what?" he thought bit-
terly. "For this kind of life? For living in
constant fear as I do, traveling only at night,
hiding all day, without love, without hope?"

But he had something to finish before he died.
That's what kept driving him on, night after night.
And he wasn't really without hope. He knew he
still had one friend : the Lord.

Intelligent people for many decades had made
fun of "the unenlightened" among them who could

still see some good in traditional religion. But
he knew. They called it gullibility and stubborn
superstition, but he knew he had so much reason
to trust his religion — how could he go against it?
When his enemies caught him, he knew what he
would say.

He surveyed the empty hills around him. In
the valley ahead he saw a ruined city — rubble.
Why? How had this happened to his country?
His nation had been the best in the world for a
long time. Never had they had a king. "But
people just aren't good enough for democracy,"
he thought in bitter sadness. "It demands too
much from them." The citizens themselves had
joined his nation's long-time enemies in annihilat-
ing the civilization he loved.

Earlier, during the Great War, there had
been a way to fight it. He had tried. His dad had
been a commanding general in that war to end
all wars. But no more.

Now the son must walk helplessly through the
barren countryside. But was it barren? Which
tree would prove to be an enemy sentinel?

His legs ached, but he made them move the
faster. "One after the other — go. Tonight, I
must reach the cave. They might find me tomor-
row ... Go ; keep on ; go." A sharp pain shot up
his leg. He had twisted his ankle. But he hobbled
on, because he wanted to finish the memoirs he
was writing.

He kept walking all that night. Then he be-
gan to recognize landmarks. The landscape
seemed familiar. He was nearing the area where
he had lived as a boy. There hadn't been much
except scattered guerrilla warfare then, and he
had hiked through these hills at his leisure. Soon
he would be able to work on the record he wanted
to leave for the people to come after them.

An icy wind swept around him and on across
the rocky slopes' vast emptiness. It was hard
to believe that anyone would come. Most people
had been killed in the Great War. Women and
children had fought as well as men; the whole
world in total war. The few people left roamed
in savage, vicious bands. But something inside
told him intelligent people would someday come
across what he'd written. Maybe centuries would
pass, but other people . . . someday . . . from
somewhere. . . .

"Over there!" someone shouted.

Enemies! The man immediately dropped to
the ground. Had they seen him? He crept
quietly. He had to get away from where they'd

first spotted him. If he could just lodge himself
in that crack between those rocks up ahead. How
mad he was that he had let his mind wander!
After coming this far — he had almost made it!
But now they would catch him for sure, especially
since there was some moonlight.

Maybe not. He had reached the rocks. But
no — the crack was too small. He couldn't wedge
himself behind that large rock. It was too late
to really try. They'd already reached the spot
where he had been the minute before. He sank
into the shadows. A pebble slipped and bounced
down the hill.

"What was that?" a soldier asked.

From his hiding place the man was praying
within himself.

The soldiers strained to see if anyone was up
ahead, among the rocks. Then one said, "Oh,
we could chase ghosts all night. Let's go back.
It's probably just an animal. If it's a man, we'll
catch him in the morning."

Slowly the sound of their footsteps died away.

He crossed the last valley and entered the cavern

where he had concealed the records twenty years

before.

He had succeeded! He bowed his head and

thanked God, then took out the metal plates and
stylus. "Metal will last," he thought with satis-
faction. He opened the plates to some passages
his father had written and re-read them to get
in the mood. He was aware, at first, of the dif-
ference between colloquial idiom and the formal
style of the records. Then, individual words didn't
stand out ; there was only the powerful message :
"And it is impossible for the tongue to de-
scribe, or for man to write a perfect descrip-
tion of the blood and carnage which was
among the people. . . ." (Morm. 4:11.)

"... for they repented not of their iniqui-
ties. . . ." (Morm. 5:2.)

" [And the Lord] would not suffer that the
words should not be verified, which he spake
unto our fathers, saying that: Inasmuch as
ye keep not my commandments, ye shall not
prosper. . . ." (Omni 6.)
Then he picked up the stylus and wrote,

". . . And I exhort you to remember these
things; for the time speedily cometh that ye
shall know that I lie not, for ye shall see me
at the bar of God; and the Lord God will say
unto you: Did I not declare my words unto
you, which were written by this man, like as
one crying from the dead, yea, even as one
speaking out of the dust? . . ." (Moro. 10:
27.)

Improvement Era

YOUTH

By Eileen Perry
Youth is my time —

A lovely, sparkling, shimmering
Time to treasure forever;
An hour full of promises,
Sixty minutes filled with joy;
Precious scintillating baubles
Set in crystal bowls of time,
Spinning colors on a golden chain;
everything
Has a special kind of longevity,
The forever kind,
And that's why youth is mine.

®g NOT A V

'•••«

Afo£ a whisper of a wind so much as breathed a gentle murmur at the close of day.
Not a stirring of the earth from end to end existed for that holy stay.

I raised my head and lifted my eyes,

Entranced in the beauty of pre-dusk skies,

And so, my soul was stilled, and I at peace.

The sunset's crystal hand drew back the brilliant hues of day without a sound.
A veil of silky night descended, grey, from heaven's roof to kiss the ground.

I caught my breath; I lifted my gaze.

My thoughts fled back through the misty haze,

And through, and through, before the earth was born.

I dreamed awhile, and, in my pondering,

Imagined how the preexistence was.

I looked upon the curtain in the dusk;

A few bright stars were hung there . . .

I slipped into my dream.

I seemed to step into the mist

That rose into the August night,

Up to the dusky moonlit veil, and there, I seemed to pause.

I heard my name in a gentle voice,

And I had neither fear nor fright.

"My child" the caller spoke, "you may come in, but must return."

I left my misty carrier and passed beyond the dusky veil into another world,
And, filled with awe, I stared at this familiar emptiness, my memory unfurled.

In splendid beauty all around me was

The stilly space, this sacred wealth

As yet unscarred by human pelf.

I stood transfixed, so strange was this, my being where I knew Vd been before
With spirits, some now veiled in flesh on earth, and some still waiting at the door.

I wandered forth without a guide

And then, another at my side

Said, "Come, Vm only here to visit too."

He took my hand in his and led me forth

Among the holy wonders of that world.

The song of all creation, ringing out

Mortality and progress . . .

Eternity and more.

"Here Father did create us both

And taught us love and joy and truth.

Here the foundations of a plan were laid to guide us home.

We would leave this first estate

, And grow, if we chose, in a mortal life,

And tread, if we chose, on a rocky road that would lead to eternal life."

40 Improvement Era

VHISPER ^

• •••••

By Leonie Robyn Wood

I seemed to hear the strains of what my heart knew was a song of praise that I myself had sung,

Recalling how it burned with my soul when Father heard his children sing, and bells had rung;

There kindled now the fire again,

And I thought, how sweet and warm the flame.

Then I saw tears in my companion's eyes.

"Do you recall,11 he spoke again, "the time when Father told us that a Savior must be sent?
That some of us would know him, and would love him well, while some of us

would shun the words he lent?
And wisdom fall upon deaf ear,
And all mankind would quake and fear
In terror of the judgment's dread decree?"

He asked us, "Who will go and Savior be

To those who will return to me again?

But you must choose; I will not force you home.

Lucifer, the greedy?

Or Jesus, king of love?"

And how we loved the humble one,

The Firstborn of our Father's heirs,

Who reverently, and meekly, sought the glory for our God;

While Lucifer, the angry one,

Sought the power of Father's throne

And with his hosts did war with us; and Michael's host did grieve.

And when the earth and deeper sea, and wider sky and valley were created, we were there.

We saw Jehovah's hand bring into being the sunrise and the twilight, yet the world was bare.

Oh, then, what wonder he bequeathed

To all the breath of life he breathed,

And all the winds of destiny bowed down! ->

So much lay far before us, and we longed for just the chance to test our faith and strength and love.
"And here," he said, as he turned to me,
"We prayed that our love might someday be.
Somewhere, somehow, we knew we'd meet again.

The paths we were to take were so unclear,
And what the future held was still too dim.
We could not see ahead, we did not know;
And yet, we knew we trusted,
And we knew that Father cared."

Unspoken wonder filled my soul

In kneeling at my Father's feet.

And so, uplifted, turned I to the gentle August wind.

We parted, still to meet on earth,

The man whom I would love, and I,

With Father's plan, a prayer of hope, a tear of joy, a song.

July 1967 41

TOP AWARD

'WILFORD ! MARY JANE ! STOP THAT THIS
INSTANT!"

One would think she had enough to do, keeping
house for a family of five, without having to stop
every few minutes to settle a quarrel.

Resuming her work, Clarissa's thoughts con-
tinued. Only fifteen and already responsible for
the well-being of a whole family! Always she
must cook, wash, mend, or clean, until there was
no time left for anything she really enjoyed doing.
Life had cheated her, she thought. Others her age
didn't have to be worrying about making the
flour last until Papa could spare John long enough
to take the wagon and bring more from the mill,
or keeping Wilford's worn overalls patched until
there was money to buy more. It wasn't fair!

How did God decide who was to live and who
was to die? Why, out of the many who had been
stricken with the fever, did Mama have to go?
Mama, who had managed everything so smoothly,

who had easily accomplished those little things
that didn't seem difficult until you had to do them
yourself.

As Clarissa moved grimly about her work, she
glanced up to view the morning sun flooding the
valley, giving brillance to the little pioneer settle-
ment. The creek bubbled hurriedly toward the
fields as if anxious to help the young green shoots
wiggle their way upward. Papa and John were
hitching Old Nell to the plow in the far field,
the last one to be planted. Mary Jane and Wilford
were playing peacefully for a short time anyway,
under the trees.

A few months ago this peaceful picture would
have filled her with a love for life. Before Mama
had died, everything seemed to be perfect. Dream-

Family Girl

By Bonnie Muirbrook

•iff- > * *¥•*&..:*

ily, she remembered those happy days. There
had been work to do, but Mother had been there
to direct.

The Johnsons had been the nearest neighbors,
and Maggie was her age. Together they had ex-
plored the realms of childhood, from mothering
dolls to being heroines of an Indian ambush.
Their friendship blossomed as they walked hand
in hand into their teens. Looking back to those
good times made the present seem more burden-
some than before. Maggie was back east now and
not subject to the hardships of pioneer life.

Clarissa was startled from her daydreams by
Wilford's rather demanding voice, "Sissy, I'm
hungry! Isn't it time for dinner?"

This practical question brought her hurriedly
to the realization that Papa and John would be
coming in from the field. As she began prepara-
tions for the noon meal, her resentment still
smoldered.

She greeted her father and brother almost
coldly as they washed up at the basin on the
porch. All through the meal she was gloomy and
cross, adding to her father's burden. William
Thomas was finding it difficult to adjust to this
new life without his wife, and the suddenly with-
drawn, resentful attitude of his elder daughter
worried him considerably. Ever since Rachel's

death, he had been afraid the extra responsibility
would be too much for Clarissa, and he had tried
to make it as easy as he could.

Now Clarissa spoke sharply, as she told him
she must have more flour if she were to continue
to prepare meals.

"John, hitch Nell to the wagon and bring some
flour from the mill."

"What about the plowing?" asked John.

"I'll prepare the ditches while you are gone,
and we'll finish the plowing when you return,"
her father answered tiredly.

A pang of guilt made Clarissa turn away. It
was time the plowing was done, and Papa needed
John's help. She could get along — well, she didn't
care; no one worried about her problems.

"Clarissa, remember to get the children's clothes
ready for church tomorrow."

"Yes," thought Clarissa, "I do not do what I
want, but what I must."

Her resentment flared anew as she thought
of all the work confronting her in order to pre-
pare the children for tomorrow. Insisting that
Mary Jane and Wilford do the dishes, she heated
the f latirons on the stove and pressed Mary Jane's
best gingham. Next came Wilford's "other"
pants, a white shirt each for Papa and John, and
then her own much-worn dress.

By that time Wilford and Mary Jane had fin-
ished the dishes.

"Sissy, let's go pick berries," begged Wilford.

"Then you can bake us a pie for supper," chimed
in Mary Jane.

"I can't just run off and leave all this work;

*▼

TOP AWARD

besides, you haven't watered the garden yet, and
you promised you would. Get the pails and run
along," retorted Clarissa.

Crestfallen, the children took the pails from the
hooks by the door and walked dejectedly from the
room.

"I don't care," thought Clarissa hotly. "I
haven't time, and besides, they might as well
learn that life is just hard work."

She put the irons up to cool, sewed the missing
button on John's shirt, and, as she attacked the
basket of mending, became more and more ab-
sorbed in her self-pity.

The afternoon wore on ; and as Clarissa became
aware of the lateness of the day, she marched
quickly toward the door, reaching automatically
for the water pail. The empty hooks seemed to
prick her heart as she realized how long it had
been since she had heard the
children's voices.

She lost no time in
reaching the side of the
cabin, where she viewed
the garden, only half
watered. The pails were
gone, too. The fears that
instantly grasped Clarissa
were stopped almost as
suddenly as they began, as
Mary Jane's voice broke the
stillness. "Sissy! Sissy!" As
Clarissa turned, Mary Jane rounded the side of the
house. "Sissy, where's Wilford?"

The question brought the fears racing back.
Her heart thumped loudly in the stillness as she
tired to control her voice. She knelt down near
her sister and tried to remain calm as she asked,
"Hasn't he been with you?"

Wild pictures flashed through Clarissa's mind
as Mary Jane explained, "We went to the creek to
pick berries. I got tired and went to sleep. When
I woke up he was gone."

She was running so fast her breath came in
short gasps. The creek! The very word caused
her to tremble. Wilford had been warned many
times not to get too near the edge. As she ran
she called frantically, praying for an answer. Her
eyes searched the bushes desperately, then turned
to the clear water. Relief flooded her mind as
she viewed the undisturbed area — but only momen-
tarily, as she realized he was still missing and
could be almost anywhere.

Continuing along the creek bank, the guilt
weighted her soul like a water-laden sponge. Wil-
ford, the youngest of the family, had always been

a source of happiness, especially during the dark
days after her mother's death. Again her eyes
penetrated the undergrowth and the bubbling
stream of water. Finding nothing there, she
turned to examine the surrounding landscape. The
emptiness that confronted her caused her to point
her steps toward the far field and Papa.

The weeds grew rank and close to the wheel
ruts and seemed to wave tauntingly in the wind,
as though they were daring her to find what she
sought. Ahead, the hard-packed trail ended
abruptly in soft sand as it dripped into the old
wash. The weeds, too, disappeared, causing her
to sight the small form asleep against the bank.
She was upon him instantly, waking him with
her happy tears. "Sissy, don't cry," protested
Wilford, as she stood him up and brushed the
sand from his clothing. Hand in hand, they

headed back toward the
cabin and Mary Jane, who
had followed as fast as
her short legs would allow.
As they reached the
cabin, Clarissa could see
John unloading the flour
from the wagon. "Clarissa,
Papa and I are hungry. We
haven't been playing all day,
you know," reprimanded
John as he handed her a
letter. The sharp retorts
she was used to giving died in her throat, and she
spoke gently. "Of course, John. I'll hurry."
She tucked the letter into her apron, though she
was curious to know its contents.

After the supper work was done and the
younger children safely in bed, Clarissa joined her
father and brother by the fire. Silently she
opened the letter and began to read. Her father
glanced up. "From Maggie?" he asked. Clarissa
nodded and continued to read.

She laid the letter down and once again her
father spoke. "How are the Johnsons?" She
read the paragraph softly :

"I'm with Aunt Abigail, and Susie's staying
with our cousins in Boston. The boys are scat-
tered among my grandparents and my uncles.
Papa's job on the barge makes it impossible for
us to be together. How I long for a family once
more. It seems years since mother died and we
were together."

As Clarissa folded the letter, her eyes met with
first her father's, then her brother's.

The little cabin seemed to glow in the fire-
light.

Improvement Era

TOP AWARD

Attractions

By Andrew Gibbons

There is one love

that lifts

a soul to heights

And one that draws the heart

in jumps

to its beloved;

July 1967

By Verlynne Insley

[HE STORY IS TOLD of a woman who dreamed
throughout her life of taking an ocean voyage.
After many years of hard work she finally saved
enough money for a week's cruise. The amount
was only enough for the ticket, however. There
was none left over for extras. The woman de-
cided to go ahead with her plans despite her lack
of funds. She packed enough cheese and crackers
to last through the voyage and started out with
the other passengers.

The cruise proved to be most enjoyable for
the woman, except at mealtime. Every day, while
her friends dined luxuriously in the banquet hall,
she would remain on the deck with her cheese
and crackers. Finally the trip came to an end
and the passengers disembarked, thanking the
captain and crew for their service. On her way
off the boat the woman passed a steward who
looked at her with a most puzzled expression.

"Pardon me," he said, approaching politely. "I
don't believe I ever saw you join us for dinner.
You weren't ill?"

Slightly embarrassed, the woman explained her
financial predicament and told how she had solved
the problem.

The steward's confusion turned to surprise.
Almost regretfully he showed the woman her
ticket. "Your meals came with the price of the
cruise," he explained. 'They were free!"

This story has done much in helping me be-
come more keenly aware of my "ticket" and its
"extras" that are sometimes so easily overlooked.
I live in a great country, my body is sound and
healthy, and, most important, I have a religious
birthright.

Like many people who are born into the Church,
I have often been guilty of taking its blessings
for granted. I learned all the lessons while grow-
ing up, and soon realized I was part of a good
thing. But, while the banquet hall was nearby,
I remained on the deck, nibbling.

One summer, after much parental persuasion,
I began to read the Book of Mormon. Suddenly I
was fascinated. For the first time I discovered
some of the "extras" that the truth offers. I was
thrilled as I read and watched the prophecies and
scriptures fall into place with the overall gospel
plan. To my enthusiastic exclamations, Mother's
only comment was, "It's been on the shelf all
the time."

Improvement Era

Later, as a stake missionary, I delighted in
watching other people experience these same joy-
ful moments of recognition. The gospel was all
so simple and true. People who were unaware
of it were surely missing the most important
dividends in life. How thrilling it was to explain
the truth to those who were tired of "cheese and
crackers."

In reality, the saddest waste of opportunity is
found within the Church. Here the tickets read
"noble birthright," and with their price comes
wealth unlimited, a fortune that often goes un-
recognized and unclaimed or is sold for a fraction
of its worth.

While working at a college cafeteria, a friend of
mine became involved in a serious dilemma. One
hectic day a convention from Nevada added 500
lunches to the normal student total, which involved
handling a great amount of extra money. When
the cafeteria finally closed and the cash registers
were totaled, my friend found to her dismay that
she was twenty dollars short. She recounted
several times, but with no change in the total.
Another cashier also counted the money with the
same result. My friend took the money to the
manager's office and then went home, fully ex-
pecting to be without a job the following day, for
she had no way to make up the sum. When she
found no separation notice waiting the next
morning, however, my friend curiously asked
about the missing money.

"It was the funniest thing," the manager
laughed. "We all made the same mistake. You'll
never guess. We had been counting silver dollars
as fifty-cent pieces. I guess we just aren't used
to money from Nevada !" The error was a simple
oversight, but what a difference it made in the
final outcome. The mistake also taught a lesson.

The blessings we take for granted as members
of the Church can be, and often are, only over-
sights* but the total loss registered will be far
more than twenty dollars, and the lesson is often
learned too late. How wise we all would be to
look hard and long at the riches within our grasp,
making certain we are not subsisting on cheese
when we could have steak, or seeing mere fifty-
cent pieces when we are holding silver dollars.
The matter is worthy of consideration and
thought, for how pathetic it would be to realize
too late what we had within our power — when our
stomachs are empty, the voyage is over, and
there's no turning back.

TOP AWARD

July 1967

an*"**6

8 Era of Youth Writing Contest

Scholarships and Cash Awards

We want you to enter . . .

Three separate competitions

Enter the one for the college you are interested in attending :

Brigham Young University

Ricks College

Church College of Hawaii

All three schools are awarding full and partial scholarships

for the best young writers.

(Please note: No entries from the mainland USA will be
accepted for the Church College of Hawaii scholarships.)

Eligible Entrants:

High school seniors (1967-68)
College-age (under 25 years of age on January 1, 1968)

Rules:

• Original poetry, short stories, or feature articles should be typewritten on white paper
8^ x 11 inches, double-spaced, on one side of the paper only.

• Each entry must be designated by a pen name and must be accompanied by a sealed
envelope containing:

1. The author's actual name, age, home address, title of entry, and a wallet-size
photo. •.'..'

2. The following statement: "This work is original," signed by the author.
(Original means that it is the work of the writer and not something copied
from some other source or planned or written by others.)

• At the top of the first page of the manuscript, the author should write either BYU,
RICKS, or CHURCH COLLEGE OF HAWAII, to designate which school he/she would
be interested in attending if the entry merits a scholarship award.

• Entries must be mailed to the Era of Youth Writing Contest, 79 South State Street,
Salt Lake City, Utah 84111, postmarked not later than December 31, 1967.

• Winning entries become the property of The Improvement Era. The Era reserves
first publication rights to all entries. Payment for non-winning entries will be made
upon publication. No entries will be returned.

• All entries should be suitable for publication in The Improvement Era.

Improvement Era

By Ruth C. Ikerman

Illustrated by Jeanne Lindorff

• One of the joys of my life centers
in the hymns I learned as a child
in Sunday School. Never a soloist,
I have received great satisfaction in
being a humble part of the chorus-
in a church choir, in a college glee
club, and with the birds outside
my kitchen window.

When I am discouraged or wor-
ried, I go out to my garden and
pick up a watering hose and sing
myself into a better mood by hum-
ming the tunes or voicing the
words of hymns.

Sometimes I have to sing loudly
to remind myself of the promises
of faith and deliverance. Never
was the need more urgent than on
a hot night of summer several
seasons ago when I went out into
the dark while a loved one slept
inside, recovering from illness.

I was tired and discouraged, and
the tension showed in my voice.
How fortunate it was, I thought,
that everybody within listening dis-
tance was away. One neighbor
was at the beach, another at the
nearby mountains, a third vaca-
tioning in another state. The little
house on the side street was com-
pletely dark, so I supposed this
neighbor whom I knew but slightly
was away also.

Thus isolated, I started to sing,
but my voice broke. Again I tried
and had to give it up as a bad job.
Finally, with almost a yell, I made
a third attempt and managed to
keep to the tune.

For over an hour I sang, totally
undisturbed and feeling completely
alone on my little island of depres-
sion. Then I went indoors, rested
enough by the comfort of the
hymns to fall into a deep but
troubled sleep.

Next morning there was a knock
at the door. There stood the
slightly known neighbor, looking
wan and pale. She moved shakily
into a chair. "I came to thank you
for singing those glorious hymns.
You will never know how much I
needed them."

I told her I had thought I was
singing to myself to keep up my
own courage. "You strengthened
me," she said. "I learned yesterday
that I must have extensive medical
care and must move from here to
live with my daughter. I was lying
in bed fighting the move with all
my heart. Now it is all right, and
I can do what is necessary."

When she left I reflected anew
how we are a part of each other in
this life and that it matters indeed
how well we bear our own bur-
dens, for unknown to us someone
may be needing us for strength and
courage.

Out of my temporary discour-
agement and heartache I had sung
the hymns of faith, love, and
courage for my neighbor who
needed their solace, too. I deter-
mined to remember that there is
special blessing in facing life with
a hymn in my heart. O

July 1967

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State registrar of vital statistics (see Public
Health Service publication no. 630A-1 Where to
Write for Birth and Death Records, available
by writing to the Superintendent of Documents,
U.S. Gov't Printing Office, Washington, D.C.
20402)

State registrar of vital statistics; clerk of the
probate court, town clerk, or equivalent office;
(see Public Health Service publication no. 630B
Where to Write for Marriage Records, avail-
able by writing to the Superintendent of Doc-
uments)

See Public Health Service publication no. 630C
Where to Write for Divorce Records, available
by writing to the Superintendent of Documents

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Births: name, date and place of birth;
parents' names, ages, residence, occu-
pations

Deaths: name, date and place of
birth, date and place of death, occu-
pation, name and residence of in-
formant, date and place of burial,
cause of death; parents' names,
places of birth

Names, date and place of marriage;
sometimes ages, witnesses, person
who performed ceremony, names of
parents, residence of couple; (since
approx 1900 all information men-
tioned above is given)

Names, date, residence, length of
residence, date of filing, description
and distribution of property, date of
marriage, names and ages of children,
custody rulings

9§
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Approx

1850-present

1865-present

1900-present

1907- present

1910-present

From
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',*•*: a**-^ x*

Ref

ormer

By Derek Dixon

Illustrated by
I Travis Winn

• On November 25, 1695, the prelates and divines of
Oxford University met in solemn convocation and
roundly condemned a certain Dr. Sherlock for preach-
ing heretical doctrines in the university chapel. Dr.
Sherlock had stated in one sermon that the godhead
consisted of three separate and distinct individuals!

Not only was Dr. Sherlock condemned verbally;
"counterblastes" were also written containing long
extracts from earlier works in an attempt to brand
Dr. Sherlock as heretical. One of these "counter-
blastes" was a pamphlet translated from the Latin
in 1567. A copy of the 1696 edition, which defames
Dr. Sherlock, is in the Birmingham Reference Library,
Warwickshire, England.

The title page says: "A Short history of Valentinus
Gentilis the Tritheist, tryed, condemned, and put to
death by the Protestant Reformed City and Church
of Bern in Switzerland, for asserting the Three Divine
Persons of the Trinity, to be Three distinct, eternal
spirits."

A short but biased synopsis of the life of Gentilis
then follows. He was born at Campania, near Naples,
Italy, and as a young man he went to Geneva where
he fell in with a group of Italians who had been
banished because of their religious beliefs. They
preached a new doctrine— that the Trinity consisted
of three separate and distinct beings. After a short
period of intense study, Gentilis joined the group
and began to preach the new doctrine. In 1558 the
authorities arrested him, making the following
charges :

"1 ) That he dissented from us, and all the orthodox
in the doctrine of the trinity.

"2) That he had thrown many scandalous and un-
heard of imputations upon our church, and charged
her with heresie. . . .

"3) That his writings contain many impious blas-
phemies, frequently used by him in his disputes
concerning the trinity. . . ."

Gentilis was forced to recant— on the threat of
death— and submitted to the following:

Improvement Era

"First, That you shall be stript close to your Shirt,
then barefoot and bareheaded shall carry in your
hand a lighted Torch, and by God's pardon and
ours on your knees, by confessing yourself maliciously
and wickedly to have spread abroad a false and
heretical doctrine; but that you do now from your
heart detest and abhor those abominable, lying,
blasphemous books you composed in its defence; in
testimony whereof you shall cast them with your own
hands into the flames, there to be burnt to ashes;
and for more ample satisfaction we do enjoin you to be
led through all the streets of this city, at the sound
of the trumpet, and habited as before; and do strictly
command you not to depart the city without per-
mission."

Shortly after this Gentilis did depart the city—
without permission. He fled to Lyons, France, where
he collected evidences of his belief from the Greek
and Latin fathers. He wrote a book, Antidotes, which
was never published.

He traveled throughout France and finally stopped
at Gaium, Switzerland. Since he was not in the
habit of keeping his convictions private, he was by
this time quite famous. Thus it is not surprising to
find the governor of Gaium demanding a confession
of his beliefs, which document he would send to the
clergy at Bern. Gentilus wrote the confession, but
he sent it to a publisher instead— and dedicated it to
the governor.

He then fled to Lyons, only to be imprisoned for
two months. From there he went to Poland and spent
two years "causing much strife because of his doc-
trines." He returned to Gaium where, not surprisingly,
the governor promptly threw him into prison, and on
June 2, 1566, he was ordered to Bern to be examined
by the Senate.

What were the doctrines that brought Gentilis
into such abuse and persecution? Chapter 5 of the
pamphlet written about him in 1567 has the statement
that it "contain[s] some propositions taken out of his
[Gentilis'] books of the Trinity, which we [the au-

thors of the pamphlets] Judge to be false." It then
continues :

"And now we desire the whole church of God,
and the piety of all succeeding ages to judge of the
following position, wherein he [Valentinus Gentilis]
does either by an impudent prevarication scandalize
and bespatter us, or, which is far worse, impiously
blaspheme God.

"And first, he calls the Trinity [that is, the doctrine
of three in one] a mere human invention, . . . and
directly contrary to the Word of God.

"Secondly, he affirms, That the Father alone is that
One only God, set forth to us in the Holy Scripture.

"Thirdly, That the Son is not of himself, but of the
Father, to whom He is Subordinate as to His Maker.

"Fourthly, The Father, Son and Holy Ghost are not
only three distinct Persons, but have also Three dis-
tinct Essences or Substances.

"Fifthly, The Son was begotten by the Father,
according to his Substance, and differs from the
Father as a Subordinate Spirit.

"Sixthly, There are in the Trinity Three Eternal
Spirits, each of which is by himself God.

"Seventhly, That these three Spirits differ from each
other in Order, Degree, and Propriety of Essence."

For teaching these things Valentinus Gentilis was
sentenced to beheading by the Senate of Bern. And
"as he was led out to execution, the obstinate wretch
did not cease to glory in his unruly and pertinacious
stubbornness and expecting praise from it (as the
Devil's martyrs used to do) never left off crying out,
That he died a martyr for the Glory of the most
high God. . . ."

What is most interesting is that in the fate of
Gentilis we can see the fate of the gospel had it been
restored in Europe instead of America. If such men
as Gentilis were killed for teaching the truth about
God as they found it in the scriptures, what would
have been the fate of such a man as Joseph Smith,
who said that he had seen "the Father and the Son"
face to face? O

July 1967

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The LDS Scene

Microfilm Display in Miami

The Genealogical Society sponsored a display booth
at the National Microfilm Association convention in
Miami, Florida, recently. The display depicted the
Church's extensive microfilming program. Brother
Van A. Neiswender, manager of the microfilm production
division of the Genealogical Society, explained to
visitors the work done by the Church in microfilming
records and storing them in the Granite Mountain
Records Vault.

National Officer

Dr. Jay Slaughter of Ricks
College will complete a
two-year term as national
president of Kappa Kappa
Psi, national band
organization, in August. He
will conduct the group's
convention at Fort Worth,
Texas, August 27-31.

Gold Medal Award Winner

Gordon Burt Affleck,
managing director of Church
procurement, was recently
presented the National
Association of Purchasing
Agents Gold Medal Award as
"a mark of esteem and appre-
ciation for his guidance to
purchasing agents in America."

Visitors' Center at Harris Home

A new visitors' center is to be opened this
summer at the Martin Harris home near
Palmyra, New York. Highlighted will be
paintings, sculptures, and other exhibits
pertaining to witnesses to the Book of
Mormon. Included among the exhibits is the
painting (above) depicting Professor Charles
Anthon tearing the certificate he had
previously given to Martin Harris certifying
that the characters transcribed from the
plates were true characters and the
translation was correct.

Lion House Pioneer Memorial

The Lion House, one of Brigham Young's homes, is being remodeled

for use as a social center by the YWMIA general board. The remodeling

includes removal of some of the partitions to make larger space

areas and building of a cafeteria in the basement. The home will be

furnished by the YWMIA with furniture of the pioneer period.

The Lion House is one of 48 sites selected as national historic landmarks

by the advisory board on National Parks, Historic Sites, Buildings,

and Monuments.

Improvement Era

First Chapel on China Mainland

President Hugh B. Brown of the First Presidency
dedicated the first chapel to be dedicated on the mainland
of ancient China on April 16. It is located at Un Long
in the Honk Kong zone. The Un Long Branch has
a membership of 234 and is a part of the Southern
Far East Mission.

Apostle Completes Rotary Assignment

Elder Richard L. Evans of the Council of the Twelve
spoke to an estimated 17,000 Rotarians from 90
countries at the opening session of the international
Rotary convention at Nice, France, May 21. Elder
Evans has just completed his term as Rotary international
president, after having traveled to more than 50
countries during the past year in the performance of
his duties.

Vice-chancellor at UCSB

Charles Raymond Varley,
a former high councilor in
the American River Stake,
has been named the
new vice-chancellor for
business and finance at the
University of California
at Santa Barbara. He was
formerly assistant director
of the California Department
of Public Works. Brother
Varley, who was born and
reared in Salt Lake City,
is married and the father of
seven children.

Days of '47 Royalty

Reigning over Salt Lake City's Days of '47 celebration
will be Marilee Christensen, a descendent of Utah
pioneers. She and her attendants, who were selected
from a field of 152 candidates in a contest sponsored
by the Daughters of Utah Pioneers, will reign over events
commemorating the arrival of the Utah pioneers in
Salt Lake Valley July 24, 1847. Marilee is active
in the Millcreek 11th Ward in Salt Lake City. Her
attendants, who are also descendants of pioneers, are
Gail Rich, Salt Lake City, and Linda Nickle,
Delta, Utah.

Federal Budget
Commission Chairman

David M. Kennedy, Chicago
banker and former member
of the Chicago Stake
presidency, has been ap-
pointed chairman of a
16-member commission in
the Johnson administration.
He will direct a study of
how the federal budget is
prepared and presented to
the public. He is currently
chairman and chief
executive officer of the
Continental Bank and Trust
Company of Chicago.
Brother Kennedy is also
chairman of the Brigham
Young University national
development council.

July 1967

Teaching

Conducted by the
Church School System

By Neil J. Flinders

Instructor, Ogden Institute
of Religion

Teaching

PART I

• The statement teaching is a
touching business infers two as-
sumptions: (1) someone is to be
touched and (2) some tech-
nique ( s ) or method ( s ) for touching
the feelings and spirit of another
person exists. These two assump-
tions form a convenient division for
discussing the process of effective
teaching in the religious education
program of the Church. First,
what is the nature of the student—
what is the nature of man? Second,
how does one go about influencing
the behavior of such a being?

Part one of this article will treat
the first question by reviewing four
issues : ( 1 ) What is man? ( 2 ) How
does man learn? (3) What motiva-
tions for learning exist? (4) What
is meant by the term religion? Part
two will discuss some of the chal-
lenges that face religious educators
as they grapple with the task of
touching the lives of others.

Teachers of religion are not in-
volved in just dispensive teaching;
they are involved in directive teach-
ing—teaching that accepts the
responsibility to produce specific
behavioral responses. This empha-
sis creates some rather unique
challenges. It assumes that the
teacher's influence will be reflected
in the student's behavior in the

manner the teacher intended. This
assumption presumes the teacher is
capable of working with the student
on an effective level— on a feeling
level, on a level that touches the
emotional and spiritual systems as
well as the intellectual or rational
powers of the student.

What Is Man?

The answer a person provides to
the psalmist's query, "What is man
that thou art mindful of him?" is
reflected in that person's social
attitudes and interpersonal relation-
ships. For men and women who
devote their lives to a work that
deals primarily with helping man
come to know himself, his neigh-
bor, and his Heavenly Father, the
answer to the question is particu-
larly vital. The religion teacher in
The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints is challenged to
comprehend and adopt the most
ennobling and positive definition
of man; and, in turn, the definition
needs to be evidenced in the
teacher's behavior. Acceptance of
the value and worth of the indi-
vidual is the most fundamental pre-
requisite for successful teacher per-
formance in the religious education
program of the Church.

No philosophy accords man such
stature and importance as does that
contained in the Church of Jesus
Christ. Man is a literal child of
God. He is more than a subject of
nature. He exists upon a self-
existing principle; but with the pro-
gram provided by his Heavenly
Father, he is able to move through
a series of developmental stages—
from a spirit being, to a mortal, to
an immortal soul. This program
we know as the eternal plan of sal-
vation. It encompasses man's pre-
earth life, his earth life, and his
post-earth life.

As a mortal being, man is in a
probationary state— a state of being
in which he is tested to see if he
can acquire those characteristics
and attributes that will entitle him
to become like his eternal parents,
worthy of retaining the power of
procreation so that he might em-
bark upon the task of bringing to
pass the immortality and eternal
life of his own posterity.

Each individual, therefore, is im-
portant in terms of his eternal
parentage. As a child of God, he
is a member of a heavenly family.
In this eternal sense man needs
God, just as, in the mortal sense, he
needs earthly parents. Conversely,
God needs man, just as a parent

Improvement Era

Is a TbuchmgBusmess

needs children. The Father glories
in children who glorify and honor
his name, not in children who rebel
against and dishonor him. He needs
children who accept the other
members of the family. He needs
children who behave in such a way
that they achieve success and find
joy and happiness.

This definition of man's relation-
ship to his brothers and sisters and
to his God justifies a program of
religious education. Man's purpose
transcends mortality. Therefore,
his training, if he is to achieve his
potential, must transcend mortality.
This is the assignment of the re-
ligious educator. In order to aid
man in this quest, the teacher of
religion must be aware of and
adept at promoting the kind of
learning that will help men and
women progress according to the
eternal plan. Man must be touched
in such a way that he will respond
in harmony with his potential
destiny.

How Does Man Learn?

There are numerous theories of
learning. Most of these are the
results of attempts to analyze and
explain the technical process of
idea acquisition and its effect on

behavioral response. These step-
by-step technical descriptions of
the relationships between mental
awareness and physical behavior
are providing beneficial insights to
the educator that are making it
possible to improve educational
efficiency. The traditional assump-
tions of psychology and physiology,
however, have not taken into
account the premortal existence of
man. To this extent there is an
element of the unknown that is
complicating the search to fully
comprehend how and why man
learns and behaves as he does.

Recognizing the natural limita-
tions of scientific research, it is still
possible to combine what has been
learned through research with what
has been revealed by the Lord, and
come up with an operational de-
scription of the learning process.
Although this approach does not
offer an explanatory theory in the
scientific sense, it does provide a
functional theory that is very
usable. A practical system of some
type is necessary in guiding educa-
tional endeavors if a professional
performance is to result in the class-
room. The following set of princi-
ples is one way of stating some
rather self-evident conclusions that
can be derived from an examination

of social-psychological research,
revelation, and man's life experi-
ences.

The following are principles of
learning that provide guidelines for
religious educators:

1. Learning is the product of ex-
perience, and, in a broad sense,
experience of some type is pre-
requisite to all learning. Whenever
there is experience, there is some
kind of learning.

2. Experience tends to produce
ideas or concepts, and, because
man's capacity to reason is an in-
dividual power, the conclusions
that result from the thinking
process will reflect some variation.

3. Experience and the subse-
quent conclusions drawn from
experiences tend to create feelings
within a person that determine his
behavior.

4. Behavior that seems to satisfy
the individual tends to be repeated.

5. Patterns of behavior that re-
sult from the experiences, ideas,
feelings, and actions of a person
tend to stabilize, and these patterns
constitute one's character.

6. Ideal patterns of behavior or
character are those that cause a
person to respond to life and its
laws in ways that are in harmony
with truth and the eternal welfare

July 1967

of the individual. This is the
achievement of perfection. This
is the goal of education.

7. To be meaningful in the eter-
nal sense, the learning process is
dependent upon interpersonal in-
teraction, and the educational
programs must provide for this
factor in the curriculum in order to
direct the integration of the learn-

ing experience. (Note: Educational
programs that are designed only to
assume responsibility for dealing
with the individual and the subject
matter are merely dispensive -type
educational programs. Such sys-
tems are avoiding the most signifi-
cant aspect of true education— its
application. The directive-type edu-
cational system incorporates into

Richard L. Evans

The Spoken Word

Whatever you do," said Emerson, "you need courage. Whatever
course you decide upon, there is always someone to tell you
you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising which
tempt you to believe that your critics are right. To map out a course of
action and follow it to an end requires . . . courage." There is no signifi-
cant decision of life that doesn't require some kind of courage, and no typi-
cal day of life that doesn't require some sort of courage; and certainly
there is no great venture in life that doesn't require courage. "Courage is
the greatest of all the virtues. Because if you haven't courage, you may not
have an opportunity to use any of the others."1 It takes courage to be
different. It takes courage to side with someone who is being unfairly
abused. It takes courage to befriend someone who is in popular disfavor,
to advocate an unpolitic or unprofitable opinion. It takes courage to
speak out in favor of an unpopular proposal, or an inconvenient or
unpopular principle. It takes courage to turn down a dare. It takes
courage to ignore ridicule even when one is right. Sometimes it takes
courage even to run away from an evil proposal; for evil, like misery,
loves company, and doesn't make it easy for anyone to run out on it.
Often it takes courage to find the peace that comes with repenting.
Pursuing anything that isn't easy, isn't popular, anything that isn't con-
sidered to be quickly successful, requires courage. The critics are often
cruel, sometimes honestly cruel and sometimes cruel for reasons that
are other than honest. Sometimes they are wrong. But anyone who stands
for anything, who says anything, who does anything that amounts to
much, must face the critics— and that requires courage. "Whatever you
do, you need courage"— especially the courage that comes with a con-
viction of being right, and the equal, or even almost greater, courage to
repent from wrong. Life itself, with every significant decision, requires
courage.

* "The Spoken Word" from Temple
Square, presented over KSL and the Columbia Broad-
casting System April 30, 1967. Copyright 1967.

^Accredited to Dr. Samuel Johnson.

its design provisions for integrating
its educational objectives through
interpersonal interaction. )

The learning matrix described
above becomes so complex as man
encounters his multitudinous ex-
periences that, at present, it is
beyond our comprehension. We
do know, however, that the prin-
ciples of the gospel of Jesus Christ
and their attendant ordinances are
designed to help man to move into
harmony with truth rather than
away from harmony with truth.
Such principles as love, repentance,
forgiveness, faith, virtue, and
temperance hold the secrets of
educational excellence. Eventually,
if we continue to study these re-
vealed truths academically as well
as spiritually, we will learn the
"how" and the "why" of their in-
fluence on man.

Motivation for Learning

The principles of the gospel of
Jesus Christ, when radiated through
the lives of individuals, create the
optimum kind of a learning atmo-
sphere. Forces represented by such
terms as security, interest, desire,
and freedom are optimized when
individuals associate with one an-
other in compliance with the
principles of the gospel. Man as
an eternal, though mortal, entity is
in a state of becoming, and he has
a variety of needs that cause him
to act. There are numerous lists
of these forces or needs in psycho-
logical literature, and most of them
are apparent in the scriptures, al-
though they are not dealt with in
modern terminology.

The categories listed below, in
the writer's opinion, comprise a
rather complete coverage of the
goals or needs that seem to impel
man to act. The forces represented
by these terms cause man to seek
satisfaction and peace within him-
self. Apparently, there is not
unanimous agreement as to the way
in which these forces or needs

Improvement Era

affect a person's behavior. A com-
bination of circumstances plus the
character or personality of the
individual seems to dictate priority
of need fulfillment. At times this
tendency to act is called motivation
—the term used to describe a per-
son's efforts to successfully relate
to the world as he perceives and
experiences it.

Areas of Man's Needs

1. Physiological needs, such as
food, drink, rest, light.

2. Safety from physical harm.

3. Receiving and expressing af-
fection—a feeling of accepting and
being accepted, of belonging, of
having companionship and friend-
ship.

4. Expressing creative accom-
plishment; making a contribution
that elicits prestige, status, self-
esteem, satisfaction; identifying
one's self.

5. The security of identification
with a power that can be appealed
to when circumstances are beyond
man's personal control.

All of these needs interrelate in
the human personality, creating
and determining what is loosely
termed motivation. The climate
for effective learning must provide
an avenue for the student to satisfy
some of these needs. The religion
teacher is more responsible for
aiding the student in some areas
of need fulfillment than in others.
He is not, for example, primarily
responsible for providing food or
drink, but he is responsible for
helping the student feel accepted.

The best climate for learning is
the one in which satisfaction is
maximized in those areas of need
that relate to the subject being
taught. In religious education pro-
grams, this climate is created best
by the teacher who is properly
meeting these needs in his own life.
The teacher who is able to accept
self is the teacher who is more able
to accept his students, who can give

of himself, and who is willing to
go the extra mile. This kind of
teacher automatically tends to es-
tablish a climate conducive to
desirable learning. The student
exposed to such an atmosphere
finds a situation in which he can
better satisfy his own unmet needs
for growth and development.
In addition to the above descrip-

tion of man's learning experience,
another dimension of the learning
process needs to be considered.
This is found in the Lord's explana-
tion for human behavior given in
Section 93 of the Doctrine and
Covenants. Here the Lord indi-
cates that all things are plainly
manifest unto man, but the powers
of evil (Satan), using the forces of

Richard L. Evans

The Spoken Word

Manners from Models

In commenting on the character, the courtesy— or lack of it— of young
people, of all people, Frederick K. Stamm asked: "Are the young
to blame for their discourteous actions . . . ? There are ways of
training the youth to be . . . pleasing, and useful citizens. It can be done
by parents being courteous themselves, not from a mere desire to observe
conventions but instinctively from a spirit of genuine sympathy, thought-
fulness, and profound respect for the other members of the family as
personalities. The boy will learn courtesy when he sees his father treat
the boy's mother like a queen, and the wise and well-balanced girl is she
whose mother maintains grace and dignity in relationships with her
husband and sons."1 Manners, kindness, courtesy— these don't just happen.
They come from several sources. "Where the spirit of love and duty
pervades the home— . . . where the daily life is honest and virtuous—
. . . kind, and loving, then may we expect . . . healthy, useful, and happy
beings. . . . Models are, therefore, of every importance in moulding the
nature of the child. ... In the face of a bad example, the best of
precepts are of but little avail. . . . Indeed, precept at variance with
practise is worse than useless . . . [for] children are judges of consistency,
and the lessons of the parent who says one thing and does the opposite
are quickly seen through. . . . The tiniest bits of opinion sown in the
minds of children in private life afterwards issue forth to the world, and
become its public opinion; for nations are gathered out of nurseries. . . .
The manners of society at large are but the reflex of the manners of
our collective homes, . . ."- said Samuel Smiles. "Indeed, we can always
better understand and appreciate a man's real character . . . [not so
much] by his public exhibition of himself but by the manner in which
he conducts himself towards those who are the most nearly related to
him, and by his transaction of the commonplace details of daily duty."3

# "The Spoken Word" from Temple
Square, presented over KSL and the Columbia Broad-
casting System May 7, 1967. Copyright 1967.

^Frederick K. Stamm, "Courtesy," Good Housekeeping, January 1937.

2Samuel Smiles, Character, Ch. 2, "Home Power."

Hbid., Ch. 1, "Influence of Character."

July 1967

opposition, come and take away
light and truth, leaving man in con-
fusion and darkness. It is explained
that Satan accomplishes this in two
ways: first, by introducing man to
the spirit of disobedience, and sec-
ond, by confusing men with the
false social traditions of their
fathers. (D&C 93:31, 38-39.)

The Prophet Joseph Smith ex-
plained that Jesus "needed not that
any man should teach him." (In-
spired Version, Matt. 3:25.) It was
only necessary that his Father
reveal Christ to himself in the glory
he had with his Father before the
foundation of the world. (Inspired
Version, John 17:5, 24.) From this,
it appears the forces of darkness
operate more upon the principle of
subtraction than the principle of
addition. Evidently, man's problem
is not an inability to comprehend
or acquire truth, light, and
knowledge. His problem is one
of rejecting— of not accepting the
truth, light, and knowledge that is
plainly manifest unto him.

The foregoing information sug-
gests that religious education is as
much a matter of recovery as it is
of discovery. Spiritual instruction,
then, should be designed to bring
man to an awareness, not so much
of things new, but of things old
that he has lost or that have been
obscured from his vision. Man's
mind is not a "blank tablet." He
has had a long pre-earth existence
that had a powerful impact upon
his intelligence, but that is con-
cealed from his conscious aware-
ness by a thin veil. (Abr. 3:22-26;
Heb. 6.T9-20. ) Spiritual instruction
is not a matter of how one can
believe without evidence. It is a
matter of how one has managed to
hide the evidence (within him-
self) from himself and of finding
a way to reencounter that evidence
with the student. This view of
education makes it possible to
more clearly understand the in-
junction, ". . . if ye receive not the
Spirit ye shall not teach." (D&C

42:14.) Authentic religious educa-
tion is emotionally revelatory as
much as it is intellectually explana-
tory. This type of education has
its own unique requirements when
it comes to instructional techniques
—a problem we will face in part
two of this article.

What Is Religion?

Another element needed in the
framework of teaching in a touch-
ing manner is a definition of the
term religion. Religion has a dual
definition in the literature that
deals with it. In a formal aca-

Richard L. Evans

The Spoken Word

Some very simple things

In days of much complexity we hear often over-complicated explana-
tions for very simple things, and often under-simplify the real essence
of what it is that makes men, of what it is that matters most. And
often it seems we start at the wrong end, as we create more and more
agencies and organizations that endeavor most earnestly to do what good
and wholesome homes should and could do. Homes were given us for
caring, for shaping character, for love and loyalty and reverence and
respect. To quote: "The test of every religious, political, or educational
system [and we might add, of every home] is the man it forms."1 And
so, thoughts turn to home— a simple, humble home, with a faithful,
modest mother, in a simple, honest, uncomplicated way. living a service
of love, speaking quietly of honor and duty and virtue; thoughts of
saying prayers at her knees and of hearing her say: do your duty, be
honest, pay your debts, say your prayers, don't quarrel, don't gossip, have
faith. Many other ingredients and counsels could be added, the words
could be multiplied, but the lessons could scarcely be improved upon,
especially not when she lived that kind of life, not when she set that
kind of example: do your duty, work honestly, pay your debts, say your
prayers, have faith. Elaborate explanations may add some understanding
of the complexities of the problems of people, but the simple, soul-
cleansing virtues— be clean, be honest, be faithful, be prayerful— will
serve long, before a better way is found to cleanse the soul, to calm the
mind, to give the heart a greater peace and purpose. And so, our plea
for turning toward the simple things, to a conviction that God lives,
that life is purposeful, that there are commandments to keep, virtues
to live by, conscience to consider, with the simple assurances that come
with the honest, earnest living of life. Thank God for the simple things
that satisfy, and for the God-given truths that somehow, despite all
complexity, all sophistry, carry with them their own explanation, their
own assurance for the future.

#"The Spoken Word" from Temple
Square, presented over KSL and the Columbia Broad-
casting System May 14, 1967. Copyright 1967.

iAuthor unknown.

Improvement Era

demic sense, the term has reference
to a set of explicit beliefs, teach-
ings, and practices usually asso-
ciated with an organization or
order that exists apart from its
individual membership. This is
one way of looking at religion— a
creedal or theological view.

The other definition of religion
would equate the term with an
individual's behavior. A man's
religion is his personal behavior,
and his personal behavior is his
religion. This is to say that re-
ligion is a way of life and must be
considered in terms of personal
behavior rather than just theologi-
cal statements. Ideally, the two
are harmonious and become one in
the individual. Practically speak-
ing, however, this is a lifelong task,
and various individuals belonging
to the same church can be giving
allegiance to different "religions."
When a teacher of religion views
his task, it will be apparent that it
is much easier to teach the rational
aspects of theology and church
organization than it is to inculcate
behavioral religion into the lives of
his students. This pattern of deal-
ing with the subject intellectually
is the path of least resistance. Why
this is so will be the subject of part
two of this article. O

Little Song for Faith
By Elaine V. Emans

The spiderling goes ballooning
To parts unknown,
Utterly confident,
Briskly wind-blown;

And only a silken tether
Holds it to sky.
With my sturdy rope of faith
How much more I,

Facing to ways uncharted,
Should dare swing out
Above all old familiar
Fear and doubt!

Proven . . . Successful . . . Reassuring!

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July 1967

TREE-OF-LIFE
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Authentic scaled re-
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• Notes on Specific Foods

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Melchizedek
Priesthood

AL FAMIL

The importance of the family unit in the plan of the Lord cannot he overemphasized. The
basic concepts of how the Church program is set up to strengthen the home is being presented
throughout the Church as a part of the current Saturday evening program at stake con-
ferences through a filmstrip, "The Eternal Family in the Church." Some of the pictures and
part of the narration from that film are presented here as a further aid to an understanding
of this program.

We are members of the family of God our Eternal Father. He
presides over a family organization. Our Eternal Father designed
the plan of salvation and exaltation to enable us to become like him,
thus gaining eternal families of our own. The family is the most
important organization in time or in eternity. God has given us the
Church as a service agency to enable us to create and perfect eternal
family units; it exists to serve the family and the individual.

The Lord's program is one of living and teaching the gospel. The
home is the basic unit in which this purpose is achieved. Parents
have the chief responsibility to bring up their children in light and
truth, to prepare them for missions, temple marriage, and righteous
living, and to walk uprightly before the Lord.

Family home evenings are part of the program through which par-
ents teach the gospel in the home.

All of the priesthood and auxiliary programs of the Church are
designed to aid parents and family members in living and teaching
the gospel.

Home teachers represent the Lord and serve under the bishop and
the quorum leaders in watching over and strengthening the families.

To avoid duplication in attempting to help the family, all Church
programs, through correlation, must be tied together into one unified
whole. Church activities in the ward are correlated through the
ward priesthood executive committee, composed of the following:
bishopric, ward clerk, executive secretary, high priests group leader,
seventies group leader, elders president or group leader, and general
secretaries of Aaronic Priesthood-Adult and Aaronic Priesthood-
Youth.

Improvement Era

The ward priesthood executive committee, with the addition of the
ward Relief Society presidency, becomes the ward welfare committee.

Once each month the ward priesthood committee should be expanded
into a ward council by addition of the following: Relief Society
president, Sunday School superintendent, YMMIA superintendent,
YWMIA president, Primary president, and others as needed. Thus
all ward members and organizations are represented on the ward
council.

Just as there is in the ward a ward priesthood executive committee,
so there is in the stake a stake priesthood executive committee. The
stake presidency, high council, and stake clerk, meeting in their
regular high council meeting, constitute the stake priesthood executive
committee.

The stake priesthood executive committee, with the addition of the
chairman of the stake bishops council and the stake Relief Society
presidency, becomes the stake welfare committee.

At regular intervals (preferably monthly), the meeting of the stake
priesthood executive committee should be expanded to include superin-
tendents and presidents of the stake auxiliary organizations, thus
becoming the stake council meeting. Here the stake president, as the
presiding high priest, will correlate all of the Church activities of
the stake.

The Lord has instructed priesthood members that they are "to watch
over the church always, and be with and strengthen them" (D6C
20:53) , "And visit the house of each member, exhorting them to pray
vocally and in secret and attend to all family duties." (D&C 20:51.)

One of the purposes of home teaching is to help implement these
instructions of the Lord. At the home teaching seminar on •Septem-
ber 29, 1966, Elder Harold B. Lee said, "Home teaching isn't just
one of the programs. . . . Home teaching is the instrument by which
we see to it, through the priesthood, that every program in the Church
is made available to parents and their children."

Illlllllll

—

-jsrfP ■■

Illlllllllllllll

July 1967

Presiding Bishopric's Rage

It's Right There

• Bishop Evans had received quite a shock, but he
resisted the desire to lean over and whisper in the
ear of his counselor. They were sitting on the stand;
their sacrament meeting was proceeding smoothly,
as planned.

The bishop prided himself on being well organized,
on being an able administrator. "When I can't figure
out how to do it, I can always find it right there in
the handbook," he used to say. And he took careful
pains with all his church assignments. When he was
scoutmaster he'd felt proudest when his troop won
the most awards at their court of honor. But it
wasn't something he'd done himself; it was because
he'd read the handbook and wisely trained his able
assistants. The same thing happened when he became
MIA superintendent: in his second year he helped
more young men to become Master M Men than all
the other wards in the stake combined. He'd even
been asked to speak at the awards banquet, and he'd
been quite sincere in giving all the credit for this
remarkable achievement to his officers and teachers.
It was a tasteful, unselfish tribute. But everyone knew
that the spark behind such accomplishments came
from his own burgeoning abilities as an inspiring ad-
ministrator.

He was the logical choice when a new bishop was
needed. He had been more anxious than ever in his
new calling, and after a year of hard work- he had
come to feel very good indeed about most of his
programs and people. But just before sacrament
meeting this Sunday he'd been jarred sharply from
his mellowing complacency.

The stake clerk had called, saying he'd received
Bishop Evans' fast offering report but it hadn't been
signed. "Why, I'm sure I signed it," answered the
bishop, "but perhaps I'm confusing it with some
other report." The clerk indicated he could drop by
before sacrament meeting, and the bishop was in his
office waiting when he arrived. But when the unsigned
report was brought out and laid before him, Bishop
Evans smiled and looked up at the clerk.

"But, Brother Clark, this isn't my report that's
unsigned. This is Bishop Hardy's." Then the bishop's
eyes rested upon the amount set down on the report.
He blinked and looked again.

"But, wait a minute. I can't believe this is all fast
offerings on this report. Why, that's nearly three
times as much as I've reported. I guess Bishop
Hardy has doubled up several months' fast offerings."

"No," said the stake clerk, "Bishop Hardy's ward
always raises about that amount lately. He's been
mighty proud of the way his people have been re-
sponding to his encouragement that they fast properly
and then make their contributions. Maybe that's
the key. But he's also been trying something new
as far as making fast offering collections."

"Something new?" But the bishop didn't have time
to hear more. It was time for him to go to the chapel

for the start of sacrament meeting.

* * * #

Several nights later Bishop Evans and his second
counselor entered Bishop Hardy's office and sat down
across the wide table from him. As always, there
was a pleasant exchange, brief remarks that involved
their two neighboring wards. But finally Bishop
Evans leaned forward, his expression showing a slight
frown as he spoke:

"You know, Bishop Hardy, I asked you to find some
time for us for just one reason. Last Sunday I acci-
dentally saw your fast offering report. I've told
Brother Tanner here the figure I saw. Neither of
us can understand how it can be so much higher than
ours, especially when our ward has about twenty
families more than yours. So, as we've talked about
it, I suggested we just sit down and have you tell
us what you've done that apparently we haven't been
doing. We'd like very much to know."

Bishop Hardy couldn't help but admire the man
who sat before him. He had qualities of greatness,
for here he was frankly asking advice. It was up-
lifting to see him note such concern. He warmed
to the request.

"Well, I think I used to take fasting for granted. It
didn't seem to be one of those things we had to get
out and push. But perhaps you'll remember the
encouragement the Church gave us a couple of years
ago to help everyone understand just what fasting
and fast offerings were all about. As I recall, they
called it 'The Law of- the Fast.' "

He noted that he held the attention of the two
men who faced him, as he went on:

"I thought we had done a pretty good job getting
this message across. We used the flip-chart presenta-
tion with our leadership, had an entire sacrament
meeting on it, even sent out a special letter. And it's
true, interest in fasting and fast offerings did seem
to pick up. But only for a while. A look at our
records proved that we were soon back down to where

Improvement Era

in the Handbook

we'd been." He smiled and looked at them both.
"About where you are now, I'd guess, if you say
you're collecting a third as much as we. Because
that's what happened all right: we've tried something
new, and it's tripled the monthly total."

"Just what is this 'something new'?"

"First, let me tell you what motivated me to try it.
After all that work on 'The Law of the Fast,' seeing
the increase in fast offerings and then the ultimate
slipping back, I'd become very aware that my people
could be doing much more than they were in regard
to fasting."

He leaned forward in his chair, still looking from
one to the other.

"At our last tithing settlement I quickly saw how
much each family had paid out as fast offerings. I
was more than a little surprised! Some of our most
active families were down on the records as having
paid three or four dollars for the entire year. I was
surprised and I didn't attempt to hide it." He paused
for emphasis. "I asked them— full tithe payers— why
they'd contributed so little in fast offerings. In al-
most every case I got the same weak answer: they
were always forgetting to include it in their tithing
check— they were rarely in when the deacons came
around— they'd meant to make it up but never gotten
around to it.

"Finally, I called a meeting of all those involved
in fast offerings: my second counselor, the clerk, the
Aaronic Priesthood— Youth general secretary, and our
two deacons presidents, along with the advisers. We
really had a session; we went over every name in the
ward. I discovered, to my chagrin, that many families
had no envelopes. They'd told the deacons they'd
include fast offerings in their tithing checks. Yet
these were the same families who ended up with
almost no fast offerings paid for the entire year.

"It wasn't a question of people not wanting to pay,
or not knowing how much to pay. It seemed to be
our manner of collecting. We had envelopes for some
but not for others. If no one was home there was no
follow-up, no attempt to give them another chance.
As a consequence, we finally came to the conclusion
we were only collecting from part of the ward part
of the time. That's when we decided that in addi-
tion to our commenting from the pulpit on the spiritual
benefits of fasting and supporting the poor through
fast offering contributions, we had to set up a new
envelope collection system, one that would give

everyone a chance to participate and enjoy these
blessings.

"First, we set up the Saturday previous to Fast
Sunday as the day for the deacons to be out, going
door to door. Next, we made out an envelope for
every family and told them that if they didn't wish to
contribute in the envelope, we'd still like to send the
deacons to their door as a reminder that the next day
would be Fast Sunday. Then we gathered all the
deacons in the chapel, where we carefully checked
out the envelopes to them. We insisted they go in
pairs, just like the missionaries. They liked that; it
made them feel their importance.

"Then we laid down some hard and fast rules for
the deacons: Don't leave the envelopes in the mail-
box; don't slide them under doors; don't leave them
with the members; don't go alone. We insisted they
return all envelopes to the clerk the same day. Under
no circumstances were the deacons allowed to keep
envelopes with money overnight. And we started
counting out the money in the envelopes in the pres-
ence of each pair of deacons.

"But we were still running into the problem of
follow-up, making a firm contact with those families
not home when the deacons called. So as part of our
new program we started using the Aaronic Priesthood-
Adults." He paused to see if this caught the other
bishop off balance. It did.

"Yes, we actually called our adults as drivers to
take the young deacons around later at night when
we could usually be sure we'd find someone home.
And it's worked out wonderfully! Not just wonder-
fully, marvelously! We couldn't be more delighted
with the way these older brethren have caught the
spirit of the thing. They even look forward to it, to
pitching in and helping get the job done. It's as a
consequence of this kind of thorough follow-up that
we've tripled our fast offerings. But the secret to
our success, of course, was in starting this new pro-
gram when we did."

"But the new program, all these rules and pro-
cedures, where did you come by them?"

"Come by them?" Bishop Hardy smiled more broad-
ly. "Why, would you believe it, Bishop, we dis-
covered them right in the Aaronic Priesthood- Youth
handbook. It's right there in the manual! And by
our following these suggestions, our ward members
received spiritual strength, which is the greatest bene-
fit of all." O

July 1967

Today's Family

By Florence B. Pinnock

# A chicken in every pot was the
theme song of politicians in the
nineteen-thirties. It was also the
dream of every family during those
depression years. The chicken-in-
the-pot theme was a symbol of
security. In those days people had
little assurity concerning their
future. Men— and perhaps women
even more— have longed for secu-
rity, a Utopia where all human
needs are supplied.

Security is a good sturdy word,
a word strong enough to meet
almost any emergency. If we can
satisfy our own needs, we can stand
tall and face the world; we are
secure. Webster, when he speaks of
security, claims that it is freedom
from danger or risk, freedom from
care or apprehension.

A month-old-baby, a teenager, a
man who has lived his threescore
and ten years— all want a certain
brand of security. The baby, we are
told, needs to feel secure in the
arms of his mother; he needs to be
sure no one will drop him, that
nothing will jar or crush him, that
no loud noise or unusual tempera-
ture will overpower him, and that
food will be supplied at a moment's
wail.

A teenager, in order to be secure,
must feel that he is a special indi-
vidual, that he is an important part
of a group, and that he has freedom
to think and to create. He must
have enough within himself to be
a person in his own right; he must
feel big; he must feel adequate.

An older person, in order to be
happy and at peace with himself
and the world, must be sure that
his material and physical needs can
be met as long as he lives. He must
have the means to buy food, shel-
ter, and clothing. He also has spiri-
tual needs. As his days grow shorter
in life, he must have a strong con-

viction that he lived before he
came to earth, that he now lives in
order to grow and to gain knowl-
edge, and that after death he will
live again.

All these needs of individuals for
security blend together in the con-
cept of love. Love is every age
group's guarantee of security. The
baby, the sixteen-year-old, the
mother and father, and the seventy-
five-year-old person have needs
that may be met with love. It is

said that "love makes the world
go round." A lack of love causes
family unhappiness, failure in life,
and even worldwide wars. Love,
happiness, and security are all
closely linked together. Combined,
they make a person safe, impreg-
nable, and invulnerable.

A chicken in every pot? Security
in every home? A feeling of peace
in every heart? This is what our
restless old world needs, and it can
have it through love.

POTS FULL OF CHICKEN

Chicken is a food for all seasons,
but it gains its full measure of
popularity in the summertime. It
ranks among the favorite foods on
any dinner table. The cost, flavor,
availability, and simplicity of prep-
aration all add to its desirability.
Five to six people can be served
from a four-pound stewing hen or
frying chicken, either selection cost-

ing about one

dollar. Compare

the nutritive value

of that dollar spent

for poultry with any

other dollar spent for meat.

The flavor of chicken is mild and
can be spiced up in a barbecue or
enhanced in a casserole. Nowadays
chicken is plentiful any time of

Improvement Era

Chicken

year. But occasionally it is such a
good buy that it pays to stock the
freezer with roasters, stewing hens,
and fryers. Any child can stew a
hen successfully, but chicken with
its varied sauces can be a challenge
to the most experienced chef.
Seasonings should be subtle, so as
to enhance but never to detract
from the fresh chicken flavor.
Nowadays we can buy any part

of the chicken desired. Some birds
are marketed with three legs or
three breasts, or it is possible to
buy all drumsticks, all breasts, all
thighs, perhaps all necks. But who
would want two dozen necks, un-
less chicken soup were to be on
the menu?

Chicken Know-How

Poultry is mainly valued for its
protein, which is needed for growth
and repair of body tissues. As a
general rule, poultry contains far
less fat than beef or pork.

To store chicken, remove the
wrappings. Rinse well and pat dry
with a paper towel. Wrap loosely
in wax paper or plastic wrap. Store
in the coldest part of the refrigera-
tor. Cook before the third day.

To freeze chicken, put a clean bird
into a plastic bag and seal. Do not
remove from freezer until ready to
use. There is no need to thaw the
chicken if it is to be stewed. Always
refrigerate cooked chicken imme-
diately.

When serving fried chicken, pro-
vide % to 1 pound per person; for
stewing hens, allow Vz to 1 pound
per person.

Chopped fresh dill, dry mustard,
paprika, curry powder, freshly
ground black pepper, chopped
parsley, thyme, bay leaf, rosemary
—name the spice or herb, and with
imagination it can enhance the
chicken flavor.

For toppings on chicken casseroles,
use crushed potato chips, crushed
corn chips, buttered seasoned
bread or cracker crumbs, Chinese
noodles, or any toasted nuts.

IS YOUR FOOD

STORAGE PROGRAM

ECONOMICALLY SOUND?

Wheat is the heart of any food stor-
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Chicken ,^^y
in Every fc

To make a Mexican chicken cas-
serole, mix a can of mushroom soup
with a can of tomato soup, season
highly, and pour over a layer of
corn chips and a layer of diced
chicken. Top with grated cheese
and bake.

For a tender chicken with a mouth-
watering flavor, soak the pieces of
a fryer in buttermilk before dusting
with flour and seasonings.

To make an easy chicken pie, mix
chicken, cooked peas, and white
sauce; then top with canned baking
powder biscuits. Sprinkle with
grated cheese and bake in a 425° F.
oven.

A quick chicken casserole can be
made by mixing one can of cream
of chicken soup, one can of mush-
room soup, and one small can
evaporated milk with 3 cups diced
cooked chicken. Season and fold in
1 small can minus V3 cup of Chinese
noodles. Put in casserole, top with
the Vz cup noodles, and dot with
butter before baking.

Paprika (use lots— at least 2 or 3
tablespoons), flour, salt, and pepper
mixed together make a delicious
dusting for chicken before frying.

One tablespoon of peanut butter
adds taste to a creamed chicken
casserole.

Try adding 1 can bean sprouts
(drained) and Chinese noodles to a
chicken casserole.

For delicious chicken soup, add a
can of mushroom soup, chopped
pimientos, minced parsley, and salt
and pepper to chicken stock in
which noodles have been boiled.
Garnish each bowl of soup with a
good sprinkle of grated Parmesan
cheese.

Baste oven-fried chicken with sour
cream.

Sprinkle a package of dehydrated
onion soup over browned chicken
fryers. Add broth, cover, and bake.

After chicken is browned, pour
over it a sauce made of thickened
pineapple juice, to which pineapple
cubes are added. Cover and bake
for 30 minutes. Serve sprinkled
with toasted almonds.

Add bleu cheese to sour cream and
pour over browned fryers. Cover
and bake until tender.

After chicken is browned, pour
over it a can of tomatoes, 1 chopped
green pepper, and 1 chopped onion,
and season with garlic salt, oreg-
ano, and pepper. Cover and cook
until tender.

After chicken breasts have been
browned and cooked until tender,
cover each piece with a slice of
Mozarella cheese and put into a
350° F. oven until cheese melts.
Serve immediately.

Jellied Chicken Loaf

2 envelopes unflavored gelatin
V2 cup cold water

3 cups hot chicken broth

2 tablespoons lemon juice
Salt and pepper to taste

3 cups diced cooked chicken
!/> cup diced celery

3 tablespoons minced green pepper
5 stuffed green olives, sliced

Soften the gelatin in cold water and
then dissolve in hot broth. Add lemon
juice and seasonings. Chill until par-
tially set. Stir in remaining ingredients;
pour into a 6-cup loaf pan. Chill till
firm. Unmold and serve garnished with
parsley sprigs.

Improvement Era

Grilled Chicken Legs

Wrap each leg securely in foil with a
teaspoon of butter, a teaspoon of
chopped green onions or chives, salt
and pepper, and a pinch of garlic salt.
Grill the packages over hot coals, turn-
ing once. They will take about 40 min-
utes.

Chicken Cacciatore

(Serves 6)

2 frying chickens
Y3 cup flour, seasoned with teaspoon

crushed oregano, pepper, garlic

salt, and paprika
l/2 cup salad oil

1 big onion, chopped

2 carrots, chopped

1 pound can tomatoes
1 8-ounce can tomato sauce
Vi cup lemon juice

Disjoint the chickens, dredge with
seasoned flour, and brown in the salad
oil. Add the other ingredients; cover
and simmer about an hour or until the
chicken is tender. Add 3 tablespoons
minced parsley, then taste for season-
ing. Serve steaming hot with French
bread and a green salad.

Simple Chicken Divan

(Serves 6)

2 packages frozen broccoli spears,
cooked until just tender
iy2 pounds sliced cooked chicken
2 cans cream of chicken soup
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 cup grated sharp Cheddar cheese
1 teaspoon paprika

Arrange the broccoli in bottom of a
13 x 9 x V^-inch pan. Cover with
chicken; pour undiluted soup and
lemon juice over all. Sprinkle with
cheese and paprika. Bake at 375° F.
for about 30 minutes. O

Have you ever been confused
about certain measurements in a
recipe?

A few grains of pepper means
less than Va teaspoon.

A dash of salt means less than
y& teaspoon.

1-pound package of powdered
sugar equals 2% cups.

1-pound package of brown sugar
equals 2% cups.

1 pound of flour equals 4 cups
sifted.

1 pound of sugar equals 2 cups.

July 1967

EASY ORGAN

EASY ORGAN TRANSCRIPTIONS

of four favorite Mormon Hymns 1

TRANSCRIPTIONS

OF FOUR FAVORITE MORMON HYMNS
ARRANGED BY

y* ji H

fM 'muu "■y" 9 ** ?2M 1

ROY M. DARLEY

TABERNACLE ORGANIST

i In a different musical vein, Roy M. Darley,

Tabernacle organist, has just published a small

! ;f 1

Ibum that is sure to prove a favorite through-

out the Church. At only medium difficulty, the

transcriptions are of artistic musical design.

■ arranged by floy M. Darley

$1.50 Postpaid

• COME, COME YE SAINTS

• AS THE DEW FROM
HEAVEN DISTILLING

Name

• SWEET IS THE WORK

Address

• GENTLY RAISE THE

Please Send Copies

SACRED STRAIN

SOUTH DAVIS MUSIC CENTER

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The Church
Moves On

April 1967

Rl Ground was broken by Presi-
dent N. Eldon Tanner and
Elders Mark E. Petersen and Rich-
ard L. Evans of the Council of the
Twelve for an open-air theater for
summer tourist productions between
the Hotel Utah and the Relief So-
ciety Building in Salt Lake City.
Promised Valley, a musical produc-
tion on the pioneer migration to
Salt Lake Valley, will open there
July 1 for a two-month run.

The organization of a Church
library committee was an-
nounced. The committee, to work
under the direction of President
N. Eldon Tanner, has the respon-
sibility for library and educational
media centers in the wards and
stakes. The program has been
worked out in cooperation with the
Church correlation committee.
Members of the Church library
committee are S. Lyman Tyler,
chairman; H. Thayne Johnson,
Donald K. Nelson, Leroy R. Linde-
man, Earl E. Olson, Delbert E.
Roach, and George Bickerstaff.

The appointments of L. H. Curtis
and Lewis M. Jones to the general
board of the Deseret Sunday School
Union were announced.

Arlington Stake was organized
through a division of Mt.
Rubidoux (California) Stake with
Clarence Leon Sirrine as stake
president and Jack E. Dahl and
David I. Tew as counselors. This
the 430th stake now functioning
was organized under the direction
of Elder LeGrand Richards of the
Council of the Twelve and Presi-
dent Marion D. Hanks of the First
Council of the Seventy.

New stake presidency: Flagstaff
(Arizona) Stake: President Nelo
E. Rhoton and counselors, Frank J,
Randall and Eldred S. Porter.

Sixty-four teams began play
in the annual all-Church vol-
leyball tournament. Games are
being played at Deseret Gym and
Parleys Stake Center.

fJJ The appointment of Edwin B.
Firmage to the general board
of the Young Men's Mutual Im-
provement Association was an-
nounced.

Oakland ( California ) Fourth
Ward won the senior title in the
all-Church volleyball tournament.
This is the second championship in
two years for the team. Kahuwai
(Hawaii) Ward won the junior
division tournament.

Under the direction of Elder
Howard W. Hunter of the
Council of the Twelve and Presi-
dent A. Theodore Tuttle of the
First Council of the Seventy, the
six Brigham Young University
Stakes were divided to form BYU
Seventh and BYU Eighth stakes.

Dean A. Peterson was sustained
as president of BYU Seventh Stake
with Lee B. Valentine and Robert
Cheesman as counselors.

David H. Yarn, Jr., was sustained
as president of BYU Eighth Stake
with Robert Junius Smith and
Robert K. Thomas as counselors.

Under the direction of Elder
Marion G. Romney of the Council
of the Twelve and President Paul
H. Dunn of the First Council of the
Seventy, the University Second
(Salt Lake City) Stake was orga-
nized, with Oscar W. McConkie, Jr.,
sustained as president and Donald
K. Barton and Burton S. Tingey as
counselors.

The first of these student stakes,
Brigham Young University Stake,
was organized January 8, 1956.
There are now 433 stakes function-
ing in the Church.

Improvement Era

May 1967

The Federal Communications
Commission announced ap-
proval of the sale of radio stations
KMBC (AM) and KMBR (FM),
Kansas City, to Bonneville Inter-
national Corporation, broadcast
arm of the Church.

The First Presidency an-
nounced the appointments of
six mission presidents to fields to
be announced later:

Dean L. Larsen, Farmington,
Utah, member of the priesthood
missionary committee.

Bryan A. Espenschied, Center-
ville, Utah, bishop of Centerville
5th Ward.

Orville C. Gunther, American
Fork, Utah, former bishop of
American Fork 12th Ward.

Rulon G. Craven, recently re-
leased from the BYU Sixth Stake
presidency.

H. Duane Anderson, first as-
sistant Sunday School superin-
tendent, San Bernardino (Cali-
fornia) First Ward.

Harvey A. Dahl, patriarch to the
Humboldt (Nevada) Stake.

The appointment of Jay A.
Quealy, former president of the
Southern Far East Mission, as
director of the Los Angeles Temple
Visitors Center was announced.

Mexico City North Stake was
created by a division of Mex-
ico City Stake, under the direction
of Elders Marion G. Romney and
Howard W. Hunter of the Council
of the Twelve. Agricol Lozano was
sustained as president of this the
434th stake of the Church, with
Daniel Taylor and Alfredo Pagaza
as counselors. The Mexico City
Stake was organized in December
1961.

John D. Johnson was sustained
as president of Chicago (Illinois)
Stake, with Everett L. Butler and
John M. Scowcroft as counselors.

B. Darrell Call was sustained as

president of Napa (California)
Stake, with B. Gale Wilson and
Garie H. Hillstead as counselors.

The Salt Lake Tabernacle
Choir presented a concert to
7,000 assembled in Brigham Young
University's George Albert Smith
Fieldhouse, Provo.

In many areas of the Church,
evening programs and over-
night camp -outs for the holders of
the Aaronic Priesthood commemo-
rated the restoration of that priest-
hood, May 15, 1829.

The First Presidency an-
nounced the appointments of
four mission presidents, with spe-
cific fields of labor to be announced
later:

Theron M. Ashcroft, Cedar City,
Utah, now president of the Cedar
West Stake.

Eugene F. Olsen, patriarch to
the San Diego East (California)
Stake.

Thomas F. Jensen, now serving
as bishop of the Butler Fourth
Ward, Salt Lake City.

Norman R. Bowen, Bountiful,
Utah, of the adult correlation com-
mittee of the Church.

P| Sydney South Stake was cre-
ated under the direction of
Elder Thomas S. Monson of the
Council of the Twelve and Elder
EIRay L. Christiansen, Assistant to
the Twelve, from parts of Sydney
(Australia) Stake. John Daniel
Parker was sustained as president,
with Donald Newton and John G.
Nicholson as counselors. This new
stake is the fifth stake in Australia
and brings the total number of
stakes in the Church to 435.

Elder Ronald W. Jackson, 21,
Springville, Utah, serving in the
Northern Indian Mission, was one
of two persons killed in a two-car
accident near New Town, North
Dakota. Elder Doyle J. Tubbs of
Ola, Idaho, was seriously injured.

July 1967

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Buffs

and

Rebuffs

Tabernacle Issue

I was most interested and pleasantly
surprised as I read the Tabernacle
issue, particularly the article on the
organ. I read the name of one very
familiar to me — that of Luke Syphus,
my great-great-grandfather. In the
family history I have of him, Luke
Syphus mentions that Joseph Ridges,
the Tabernacle organ builder, was his
very dearest friend. I like the way
Brother Todd described Luke Syphus
— "a spiritual storehouse" — and from
the accounts in his history, I feel that
more appropriate words couldn't have
been found.

Miss Lynne Stewart
Los Angeles, California

Genealogical Research Series

Hurrah for your recent articles on
genealogy! We all need a periodic
boost, and your series has been just
what the doctor orders. This is the
kind of information that helps.

Elizabeth T. Wight
Arlington, Virginia

A Man for All Seasons

Your reviewer of A Man for All Sea-
sons (April) states that Sir Thomas
More "was a Catholic cardinal in Eng-
land and a counsel of King Henry
VIII." I believe that while you will find
Sir Thomas a very devout man who
wore a hair shirt next to his skin
throughout life and regularly scourged
himself in true ascetic fashion, he was
never either a monk or a priest and
hence never a cardinal in the Catholic
Church.

It is true that while studying law
as a young man he lived near the
Charterhouse in London and took part
in the devotions of that Carthusian
monastery, and that he gave very
serious consideration to becoming a
monk, but in the end he decided he
did not have a true devotion for
monastic life and so never took any
clerical vows. He was twice married
and was the father of four children.

Among the public offices he held are
those of a Member of Parliament,
speaker of the House of Commons,
under-sheriff of London, and Lord
Chancellor of England. Perhaps the
reviewer was thinking of Thomas
Wolsey, More's predecessor as chan-
cellor, who was a cardinal.

Robert J. McCue
Orem, Utah

Improvement Era

Follow Me, Boys

I received my Era yesterday and have
almost completely devoured its con-
tents. I feel compelled to write con-
cerning your choice for the Family
Movie of the Year, Follow Me, Boys.
It was an excellent choice — the great-
est picture I've seen in ages.

Joyce Huntsman
Merlin, Oregon

Needs of Servicemen

We four-year men aboard the USS
Kitty Hawk wish to thank the Church
for what it is doing for servicemen.
The LDS servicemen's committee is
doing a fine job, considering the num-
ber of LDS men in the armed forces.
But we need missionary tools, such as
flannel boards, to help us with our
many, many golden opportunities to
present the gospel. Can't the Saints
help us by sending these things to
servicemen they know?

Also, we need letters from home.
Why don't the Saints and ward leaders
write us? It would help 100 percent
if they did. Some young men come to
me and say, "Well, I guess the Church
doesn't care about me; not even my
bishop writes." We're trying to serve
our missions here, and we love the
Church. We'll give our support and
hope to build up the Church in this
part of the vineyard, but we need your
help.

Neal Burton

LDS Group Leader

USS Kitty Hawk

Era Wrapper

I have a complaint. I've been taking
the Era for years and enjoy it very
much, but almost invariably my copy
arrives, after its bout with the postal
service, so dog-eared that I have to
patch it back together with tape. Can't
it be mailed in a wrapper strong
enough to protect it?

Daniel R. Ward
Florissant, Missouri

We are investigating the problem and
hope to find a satisfactory solution.

"Me

and those Golden.

Thanks so much for the wonderful
article, "Me . . . and those Golden
Questions" (March). It is a superb
article. As a missionary, I have met
many members who don't know how
to use the golden questions, but I
have never met a member who wasn't
willing to learn. I feel it would help
many members if you were to trans-
late this article and put it in all
Church magazines.

Elder Ormas Don Hawkins
Cochabamba, Bolivia

It will appear in all non-English uni-
fied Church publications throughout
Europe and Central and South Amer-
ica.

July 1967

Housewives
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personal finance.

(Bus. Mgt. 205x)

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Educational Media Services

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Use the handy coupon on
page 73 to renew your Era.

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Many, many people
have prescribed
for the American farmer since
the "farm problem" was disclosed
at the end of World War I. That
problem, however, was one of
success, not failure. Nurtured by
the U.S. Department of Agriculture,
by the land-grant college and uni-
versity system, by tax-supported
agricultural experiment stations, ex-
tension services, mechanization,
science, know-how, and hard work,
the American farmer by 1919 had
demonstrated that he could feed his
own countrymen and part of the
rest of the world, and still suffer
from frequent "farm surpluses."
Surpluses meant low prices. Low
prices spelled success for the na-
tion, but trouble for the farm-
producer.

In 1820, 72 out of every 100 gain-
fully employed Americans were
farmers. Today, six out of every
100 are so employed. America's
farm population has declined stead-
ily from 32 million in 1910 to only
13 million today. These 13 mil-
lion people till some three and a
half million farms. The number of
farms in America has been decreas-
ing by approximately 100,000 a
year.

Yet the major world economic
problem is shortage of food. One-
third of mankind goes to bed
hungry every night. Population
increases, forecast for the next
several decades, are rising more
rapidly outside of the best-fed
areas. The world's need for agri-
cultural production has been re-
sponded to by the U.S. Agency for
International Development. USAID
(and its predecessors) has been
exporting American know-how, in-
cluding technical assistance in
agriculture, since President Harry
S Truman formulated the funda-
mentals of the foreign-aid program
20 years ago.

In the meantime, despite a
variety of measures, price supports,

Illustrated by Jerry Fetzer

subsidies, and marketing arrange-
ments, some American agricultural
producers lose ground. In the
spring of 1967, the National Farm-
ers Organization (NFO) dumped
milk in ditches and streets, pro-
testing an 8-cent per quart price
received from processors.

If consumers pay 25 cents a quart
at the supermarket now, should
they pay 50? Or is milk precious
enough that they should pay a dol-
lar a quart? If so, can those who
need it most afford to buy milk?
Or will the American milk drinker
turn to other beverages and foods?

More than 30 years ago, in the
early days of the Roosevelt "New
Deal," the government decided the
thing to do was to levy a tax on
those who made money from
processing agricultural products.
The revenues should then be used
to help raise farm prices by (a)
limiting production and therefore,
by eliminating surpluses, reducing

Improvement Era

American
Farm
Problem

These Times

By Dr. G. Homer Durham

President, Arizona State University

the supply, and ( b ) subsidizing the
farmer while doing so.

The Supreme Court found this to
be unconstitutional in the Hoosac
Mills case, so the government came
back with the "soil bank" idea in
the Soil Conservation and Domes-
tic Allotment Act of 1934. Price
supports followed. Then came
marketing controls and the whole
menage that has accumulated to the
present time.

By mid-century, the U.S. Depart-
ment of Agriculture had become
the center of the most complex and
intricate system of government-
economic controls probably ever
known to public administration,
with farmer committees, loan
systems, quotas, price supports,
subsidies, and marketing agree-
ments. The system continues today
for the basic reason that America,
as well as a good part of the world,
is dependent on the American
farmer for food and fiber.

The American farmer is still a
producer of raw materials even
when said farm is not a family
nor an individual farm, but a corpo-
rate farm. Before the milk is finally
consumed, the cotton shirt worn,
or the bread buttered, a host of
salesmen, transporters and shippers,
processors and manufacturers, pack-

agers, wholesalers, distributors,
and retailers (plus some news-
paper, billboard, television, and
advertising men) have all been at
work.

To put the sugar beet into the
sugar bowl or get the milk into
the refrigerator involves many
specialists.

It has been said that the old-line,
individual farmer lacked the desire,
if not the genius, to organize his
market and produce finished goods
for it. Therefore, it was argued,
to insure adequate food supply, it is
better for the government to sub-
sidize, sustain, and encourage the
American farmer. Thus prices
could be kept within bounds and
the farms alive.

With the growth of corporate
farms, a change may be coming.
This article is being written in
Maricopa County, Arizona. The
county contains nearly a million in-
habitants. It ranks probably third,
among the three thousand-odd U.S.
counties, in the value of agricul-
tural products it produces annually.
It is one of the richest and best
farm counties in the nation. Of its
nearly one million people, only
some 1,600 are farmers. A growing
number of these are corporations-
corporate farms. They are led by
skillful entrepreneurs who have
become scientific. Computers— not
guesswork or a trip to the feed
store— are utilized to determine
cattle feed. Science and engineer-
ing play increasing roles. Individ-
ual farmers who cannot keep up
with the competition drop out or
consolidate forces.

Perhaps the time is coming when
protesting milk producers, rather
than dump the nourishing fluid,
will organize in corporate fashion.
In cooperation with bankers and
financiers, men of vision, with debt
financing and corporate financing
through sales of stock, may decide
to move beyond the dairymen's
cooperatives and the milk market-

ing agreements supported by the
government. Ingeniously, through
difficulty and organization, they
may find ways and means to de-
velop their own Nestle-like con-
cern. Like that great Swiss
company, their organization could
have its own butter and cheese
division, its ice cream and confec-
tion plants, and all the other
manufacturing divisions and mar-
keting and retailing outlets. Per-
haps agriculture could thus move
from Ruritania into the modern
competitive system. Perhaps fash-
ion designers, exhibiters, cutters,
manufacturers, and retailers of
garments will be employed and
operated by stockholders who are
essentially cotton growers and wool
growers. They might well "diver-
sify" (as contemporary economic
parlance has it) with additional
fabrics and products from synthetic
fiber plants.

There are signs that such de-
velopments are potentially well-
advanced. But in many cases, the
farmers, especially the lone, indi-
vidual farmers, haven't found the
way to successfully participate in
the corporate revolution. Twenty
years ago, with eight or nine million
farmers, the system looked over-
whelmingly individualistic.

Today, with three and a half
million farms, the picture looks
different. If those 1,600 farmers
in Maricopa County, Arizona, with
their financial sagacity, managerial
skills, and engineering know-how,
one day decided to organize "Ari-
zona General Farm Products, Inc."
and begin to build their factories
and systems, as electronics firms
finance and build factories, there
could be some remarkable changes
at home and, perhaps in time,
abroad.

In the meantime, let us hope that
all farmers, both at home and
abroad, continue to produce our
daily bread with milk and butter
to spare wherever possible! O

July 1967

End of an Era

One morning on my way from
the parking lot to my office
in the Church Office Build-
ing, I stopped momentarily
at the large excavation
behind the building. A young
man stepped over by me and
asked what was going on.
I told him it was the
excavation for a large
multi-story church
administration building.
He replied as he turned and
went down the street,
"That's too much to spend
on religion." I have been
thinking since then, how
much is too much?-Eldred
G. Smith, Patriarch to the
Church

As we were riding to our stake
conference one Sunday morning
with our six children, we passed a
family with fourteen children,
also going to conference.
One of our daughters asked,
"What do they have such a big
family for?" Our seven-year-old
son replied, "So they can get
their house cleaned faster!"
— Submitted by Mrs. J. Thompson,
Richfield, Utah

One good way to save face is
to keep the lower half shut.

The man who loves truth
is better than the man who
knows it, and the man who finds
happiness in it is better than the
man who loves it. — Confucius

It was July and time to tell the
Primary children about the
pioneer trek across the plains.
After the story was told, the
teacher asked the children to
draw a picture showing the
crossing of the plains. One young
boy drew several airplanes with
big crosses over them. Puzzled,
the teacher asked him to explain
his picture. Imagine her surprise
as he explained that he had
indeed drawn the 'lX"ing of the
planes!— Submitted by Mrs. G.
Stracke, San Francisco, California

Life Among the Mormons

Day of Rest

By Virginia Maughan Kammeyer

Rising from her bed at dawn,

Mother got the breakfast on,

Laid out all the Sunday clothes,

Tied a shoelace, wiped a nose,

Got the children to their chairs,

So they could kneel for morning prayers;

Reminded father time was fleeting —

He must leave for priesthood meeting;

Combed and braided tangled hair,

Dressed herself with Sabbath care,

Prepared a roast for their return,

And fondly prayed it would not burn;

Then nearly late, as was the rule,
She took her young to Sunday School;
Returned from service with her brood,
Fixed the meal and gave them food,
Reminded Dad while he was eating
That he had another meeting;
Even then could not retire —
Had to practice with the choir;
Made a Sabbath call and then
Back she went to church again,
Opened her book and sang with zest,
"Beautiful day of peace and rest."

Next Month: Brotherly Love

"End of an Era" will pay $3 for humorous anecdotes and experiences relating to Latter-day Saint way of life. Maximum length 150 words.

Improvement Era

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Beneficial Life Insurance.

Insurance can be a source of security and
comfort to your family — but it can also
be a means of improving the quality of
life for each family member. Beneficial
Life has policies that provide immediate
estates for your family; policies that
take care of your retirement in comfort;
policies that create funds for missions
and college educations; policies that
safeguard the family home. The family
most likely to succeed as a family will use
the advice of their Beneficial Life Agent
to create security and opportunity
through insurance.

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Virgil H. Smith, Prcs.

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Salt Lake City, Utah

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